Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously referred to a refund from Cranberry Print Marketing Partners to Gina-Louise Sciarra’s campaign as a donation.
In the days leading up to Tuesday’s general election in Northampton, campaign finance reports shed light on who is financially supporting each candidate and how candidates are spending donations to their political campaigns.
In Massachusetts, mayoral candidates in cities like Northampton are required to disclose those contributions to the state.
Northampton City Council candidates, meanwhile, are also required to file paper records of campaign donations and expenses with the City Clerk’s Office eight days before the preliminary election, eight days before the general election, and 30 days after it. Because those disclosures don’t include the week before Tuesday, it’s not yet clear how much the candidates are spending in the final stretch.
Before September’s preliminary election, The Shoestring published profiles about City Council and mayoral candidates as well as a report on campaign finance data. As Wards 2, 4, 6, and 7 did not appear on the preliminary election ballot, candidates in those races recently filed their first disclosures about their donations and expenditures.
Since officially forming in November 2024 from the movement to direct more funding to Northampton’s schools, the Support Our Schools and Services Political Action Committee has become a major spender in the city’s election. The PAC, often referred to as SOS, has raised over $29,000, and it has spent $5,206 to support the mayoral campaign of Jillian Duclos, who is challenging mayoral incumbent Gina-Louise Sciarra.
SOS has also been active in City Council and School Committee races, spending thousands on promotional materials for their slate of endorsees. Because SOS materials often endorsed more than one candidate, the group’s filing with the city lists some expenses multiple times to account for support for each individual candidate. The Shoestring will report those figures as they appear on the group’s filing.
Mayor
Sciarra’s campaign currently has over $26,000 in cash on hand. After renting out the Iron Horse Music Hall for over $3,000 in the spring, the biggest expense for the Sciarra campaign was $4,598 on postcards from Cranberry Print Marketing Partners in New Bedford, MA.
Notable donors to Sciarra include Michael and Katherine Aleo, who have donated $2,000 collectively since 2024 — with Katherine also serving as the campaign’s treasurer — as well as Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane and Pamela Schwartz, the director of the Western Mass Network to End Homelessness.
Sciarra also has the support of a broad swath of current and former city politicians. Former councilors Bill Dwight, John Thorpe, and Jim Nash, along with former mayor Clare Higgins, have each donated hundreds of dollars to her campaign over the years. Ward 6 Councilor Marianne LaBarge, Ward 2 Councilor Debby Pastrich-Klemer, at-large Councilor Garrick Perry, at-large candidate Benjamin Spencer, Ward 3 candidate Laurie Loisel, and District Attorney David Sullivan have also donated.
Jillian Duclos has raised over $16,000, $6,500 of which came from her own pockets, and has nearly $5,000 cash remaining on hand for her campaign. Her highest expenditures have been payments to campaign managers Dori Dean and Cherilyn Strader.
Duclos has been endorsed by the SOS PAC, which spent $1,355 supporting her campaign in the preliminary election and an additional $3,851 since.
Her other primary supporters include School Committee member and fellow SOS-endorsee Emily Serafy-Cox, Amherst Fire Capt. David Clooney, Adam Cohen and Jendi Reiter of Winning Writers, personal injury attorney John DiBartolo, landlady Caitlin Jemison, Leo and Alysia Campbell, and Texas-based lawyers Emily and Robert Hilliard, each of whom contributed $500.
Duclos has had 85 donations in the past year compared to Sciarra’s 347, and her donors have contributed an average of $151 to Sciarra’s $95, not counting Duclos’ own donation to her campaign.
At-Large
Benjamin Spencer has raised $13,733 total — more money than any other City Council candidate.
Spencer’s notable donors include Ward 3 City Council candidate Laurie Loisel, former city councilors Karen Foster and John Thorpe, former Ward 3 Councilor Jim Nash’s campaign account, and Schwartz.
Spending $7,019 since the preliminary, Spencer’s main expenditures were $3,880 on postcards from Zippity Print in Ohio and a $2,511 reimbursement towards his purchase of signs and supplies from Copy Cat and Walmart in Northampton.
One-term incumbent at-large Councilor Garrick Perry, who previously served as Ward 4 councilor, raised the least in the preliminary election cycle and spent none of it. But since September, he has raised $8,855, and ultimately spent more than any other City Council candidate between the preliminary and the general elections — $7,362. Perry also received more $500 contributions than any other candidate, from five donors: lawyer Jesse Adams, therapist Katherine Aleo, Bob Reckman, who also supported Spencer, and Thelma and Marlene Wright of Maryland.
Deb Henson raised $1,945 for the general election, in addition to the $1,021 remaining from the preliminary election. With 12 donors during the latest round of fundraising, her supporters include author Jendi Reiter, who gave $500, Ward 2 City Council candidate Al Simon, who gave $250, and Stephen Jones.
Henson spent $2,441 on campaign materials, and her largest expenditure was $1,777 worth of canvassing cards from Copy Cat.
Meg Robbins raised $1,207 for the general election after raising $1,727 for the preliminary election. She spent $1,630, most of which went to digital outreach resources that were not utilized by other Northampton candidates. Most of this money went to text messages from Good Party LLC, a voter outreach platform that supports independent candidates who reject big money. Her major donors include Jendi Reiter, who gave $500, and Northampton resident Jacqueline McCreanor, who gave $250.
Robbins and Henson both received the endorsement of SOS, which spent $1,978 on mailers that supported the two candidates.
Collectively, the six candidates who ran for two at-large City Council seats this year raised $42,805 as of last week’s filing deadline.
Ward 1
Gwen Nabad raised $1,054 from 16 donors since the preliminary election, including from Loisel and Joshua Silver, a political consultant from Florence. Nabad previously drew donations from School Committee member and former Jackson Street Elementary School principal Gwen Agna, outgoing at-large City Councilor Marissa Elkins, and Pastrich-Klemer.
Nabad’s opponent, Michele Ronco, raised only $200 from four donors this round, after also raising the least amount of money in his ward race prior to the preliminary election. Ronco’s largest expense was $296 to signs.com for yard signs. SOS also spent $270 on campaign materials supporting Ronco.
Ward 2
Incumbent Debby Pastrich-Klemer has served on City Council for one term and raised $3,175 for this election, with $940 rolling over from her last campaign. She has spent $2,283, with her largest expenditures including $693 on campaign signs from a Minnesota company and $480 towards local business Midnightson Designs.
Klemer garnered support from former local politicians such as former City Councilor Maureen Carney, who has donated $500 total since January of last year, and former Councilor Dennis Bidwell, who donated $100. She has also received support from fellow City Council hopefuls: Loisel and Aline Davis, who is running in Ward 5.
Al Simon, who is challenging Klemer, raised $8,885, which includes $1,000 from his own pockets. He also donated another $814 in in-kind contributions to his campaign, and lent an additional $1,000. His primary expense was $2,219 on campaign materials from Collective Copies in Northampton. Spending $3,476 total, he also worked with a graphic designer in Florida and lawn sign makers in Michigan. With $5,409 remaining, he had the most campaign money left over from any candidate in the City Council race before the Oct. 27 filing deadline.
His main supporters include UMass Amherst psychology professor Nilanjana Dasgupta and local pediatrician Melissa Maciborski, who each donated $500 to his campaign. The SOS PAC endorsed Simon and supported his campaign with $217 worth of palm cards and mailers.
Ward 3
Quaverly Rothenberg, the one-term incumbent candidate for Ward 3, raised $3,152 from 58 donors. Rothenberg, who submitted both of her finance reports late, reimbursed herself over $4,000 for previous loans to the campaign for graphic design and postage expenses, and spent $567 on yard signs from Copycat Printing and $90 for an e-newsletter service. Her donors this round included state Auditor Diana DiZoglio and former at-large City Councilor Jamila Gore.
SOS spent $273 on campaign materials supporting Rothenberg, despite not including her among the group’s initial endorsements.
Loisel raised only $1,095 from 11 donors this round, the largest being $250 from David Rosenmiller, after raising over $9,000 before the preliminary. Her largest expenses include a total of $2,781 to a New Bedford printer for mailers, $500 to the restaurant Spoleto for her preliminary election-night party, and $300 to the Northampton Education Foundation for enrollment of a spelling bee team.
Collectively, Loisel, Rothenberg, and Ace Tayloe, who ran in the preliminary election, raised and loaned $21,596 in Ward 3’s City Council race.
Ward 5
Aline Davis raised $880 from 11 donors since the preliminary compared to Vincent “Luke” Rotello’s $600 from two donors, $500 of which came from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1459. Rotello out-fundraised Davis prior to the preliminary election by over $1,000, while Davis had the support of established political figures in the city, like Agna and Pastrich-Klemer. SOS spent $342 on materials supporting Rotello.
Rotello spent $361 at Collective Copies for yard signs and $261 at Millenium Press in Agawam for palm cards. Davis has spent a total of $1,975 since the preliminary election, with the largest expense, $750 for mailer design, going to Go Union Printing of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Ward 6
Incumbent Marianne LaBarge has served as city councilor for Ward 6 for 26 years. Beginning with $2,247 from previous campaigns, she raised an additional $2,516 for the general election.
Her main donors include Kevin Lake, Jeffrey Rankin, Michael Cohen, Michael Parsons, and John Hornor, who each donated $200. She also received an in-kind contribution of election flyers worth $220 from land surveyor Richard LaBarge. Former Ward 1 Councilor Maureen Carney also donated $100 to her campaign.
LaBarge spent $83 to cover donation fees on ActBlue — a fundraising platform and PAC for the Democratic Party. She spent the least of any candidate in a contested race.
Challenger candidate Chris Stratton has raised $1,400 total since August 2025. His largest expenditure was $298 on lawn signs from Sunraise Inc. in Hadley.
Stratton’s other primary supporters include local pediatrician Melissa Maciborski, who donated $500, and Connecticut-based Jessie Stratton, who contributed $250. The SOS PAC has endorsed Stratton and spent $361 on mailers to support his campaign.
Ward 7
Three-term incumbent Rachel Maiore began her campaign with $2,447 on hand from previous elections and raised $570 before the general election.
She spent $531, with a $121 WordPress website fee as her highest expenditure. Maiore also gave nearly $200 in total to local institutions such as Cambridge Reproductive, Grow Food Northampton, the Leeds Civic Association, Northampton Neighbors, and the Northampton Survival Center.
Maiore has been endorsed by the SOS PAC, which spent $263 on promotional materials supporting her campaign.
Republican candidate Sue Timberlake did not fundraise for her campaign. She spent $453 on signs from Park Press Union Printer in Saugus and paid graphic designer Georgianna Brown $301 for website design.