Politics

The League of Women Voters of Marblehead will hold its annual Candidates’ Night Tuesday, May 20, 7 p.m. at the Marblehead High School library. Attendees are welcome to come at 6:30 p.m. meet candidates who are there. Marblehead's municipal election is June 10. This year there are six contested races: Select Board, Cemetery Commission, Board of Health, Town Clerk, Planning Board and School Committee. LWV Marblehead has an “empty chair” bylaw that applies to local elections. If one candidate in a two-person race isn’t present…

Dozens of Marblehead residents joined hundreds of protesters in Salem Saturday as part of nationwide "Hands Off" demonstration organized to oppose the Trump administration's policies. The crowd grew so large it had to be moved from City Hall to Riley Plaza, where demonstrators filled the brick-paved area beneath a cloudy April sky. Larkin Smith, 12, of Marblehead, invigorated the crowd at the Hands Off rally in Salem, where she led the crowd in chants calling for love and unity. CURRENT PHOTO / WILL DOWD Marblehead…

About 150 residents carrying flickering lights processed from Old Town House to Memorial Park Tuesday evening, joining thousands nationwide in a demonstration supporting democratic principles during President Donald Trump's address to Congress. A large crowd gathers at the Old Town House holding flickering lights during the "Light for Our Democracy" vigil, organized by the League of Women Voters of Marblehead. CURRENT PHOTOS / GREY COLLINS The local "Light For Our Democracy" event, organized by the League of Women Voters of Marblehead, brought together people worried…

The passing of former President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29 unlocked a flood of memories for Chris Goddard of Marblehead, who served in the Carter administration and credits him for helping shape her future.  “Working for him was fundamental in my career,” said Goddard, who runs a public relations firm, CGPR, focusing on outdoor lifestyle brands and businesses. Chris Goddard, who lives in town and owns a public relations company, worked for former President Jimmy Carter during his White House years. COURTESY PHOTO “Carter cared…

The backlash to comments he made about transgender athletes “has only served to reinforce my original point,” Congressman Seth Moulton wrote in a Facebook post Sunday night. Two different Nov. 7 stories in the New York Times — one about the “new anxiety” transgender Americans are voicing about the Trump agenda, the other a post mortem on Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed presidential bid — used the same quote from Moulton. “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being…

The totals haven’t been tallied yet, but the 2024 presidential election was expected to be the costliest ever, with at least $15.9 billion in spending, according to political finance data site Open Secrets. Outside groups, largely political action committees, have spent roughly $2.6 billion on 2024 federal elections, outpacing spending in any previous cycle. “If you watch our elections and the amount of money that’s been going into them, it just keeps going up and up,” said Leila Blodgett of Marblehead. “What was our democracy…

Nearly half of Marblehead's registered voters had already cast their ballots before polls opened Tuesday morning, setting the stage for what could be a record-breaking turnout in town. Town Clerk Robin Michaud told the Marblehead Current that 7,672 votes were cast during the early voting period and through mail-in ballots, representing 45.45% of the town's 17,099 registered voters. This pre-Election Day total includes 2,976 in-person early voters and 4,696 returned mail-in ballots. The strong pre-Election Day turnout suggests Marblehead could surpass its 2020 participation levels,…

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has outpaced former Republican president Donald J. Trump’s fundraising in Marblehead by almost five to one, Federal Election Commission data shows.  Neighbors from Peaches Point to Jersey Street, Legg’s Hill Road to the Old & Historic District, the Neck to the Goldthwait Beach neighborhood and all the streets on the Salem side of Marblehead have filled the campaign coffers of both candidates with at least  $284,910 this election cycle as they both race to the November finish…