FALL RIVER Local businessman and three-term City Councilor Cliff Ponte announced on Wednesday his bid for mayor in the upcoming November citywide election.
Ponte, 32, the Council president, is challenging first-term incumbent Mayor Paul Coogan, 68, who also returned his nomination papers Wednesday.
Ponte made his announcement from his restaurant, Almac’s Diner, after stopping at Government Center’s elections office to pick up his nomination papers.
Ponte sat down with
The Herald News on Tuesday ahead of the announcement to discuss why he’s seeking the office of mayor and why now.
“We’re at a point in this community where we’re at a crossroads. We have two roads we can go down as a community. We can go down an indecisive road that really has a lack of planning and long-term strategic plans. Or we can go down another road that is quite bright and has strategic planning in place and looks at ways we can relieve the taxpayer as best we possi
Jo C. Goode
FALL RIVER Cliff Ponte and Pam Lebeau were elected City Council president and vice president Tuesday night.
“I feel that over the last couple of years, with decorum and professionalism, it’s been my internal goal as council president. I feel as a leader on the City Council, I communicate well with the administration now, which certainly wasn’t like that with the previous administration,” said Ponte, referring to former mayor Jasiel Correia II.
Ponte was elected to the City Council in 2015 and first elected as City Council president by his peers in 2018 and the youngest member of the council at the time.