Garry Miller and Julie Irish—both running for the same Ward 5 City Council seat—differ on a lot of things, but they both see a lack of transparency and efficiency in Newton’s city government.

And Ward 7 At-Large City Councilor Becky Grossman believes public transportation could help businesses thrive in Newton, but she’s not sure if the MBTA schedule will allow for quick shopping stops in Newton.

“Obviously if we had regular transit that was stopping all the time and reliable, that would be amazing for the growth of business,” Grossman said.

Those are just two of the many things voters learned Saturday at the League of Women Voters’ Afternoon at the Races, a speed-dating-style event where candidates for each race sit together at tables throughout the Newton North High School cafeteria and voters can sit at each table and ask the candidates questions, alternating tables every few minutes.

This year’s Afternoon at the Races saw a bigger turnout than the last time it was tried, in fall 2023. This election, there’s more action on the ballot, with several City Council seats, almost every School Committee seat and the mayor’s office all up for grabs.

Topics raised on Saturday varied, from housing and senior living to school curricula and teacher contracts, in what was a more direct, intimate setting than typical forums and debates. It gave voters the chance to speak directly with candidates and hear them hash out their solutions for what they see as Newton’s big problems.

Mayoral candidate Marc Laredo talks to voters at the League of Women Voters’ Afternoon at the Races event on Oct. 4. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Mayoral candidate Marc Laredo, for example, leaned into his many years of experience on the City Council (and as a trial lawyer) working on compromise and bringing opposing sides together.

“This past week, I sat down with two leaders of the teachers’ union,” he told one voter who asked how he and opponent Al Cecchinelli would prevent another teachers’ strike. “We grabbed coffee at Caffè Nero. Why? We’re not going to solve the problems of the school system in one session. But we’re going to have a personal working relationship, understanding that the other person is not evil. They’re doing their job.”

Cecchinelli was more blunt.

“We didn’t have a strike. We had an illegal work stoppage,” Cecchinelli said.

A resident confronted at-large city councilors John Oliver and Tarik Lucas about their endorsement of John Chaimanis, who has caught fire for comments he made on social media last year about whether to allow transgender students to use locker rooms designated for the gender they identify with instead of the sex they’re born with, and Oliver defended his endorsement.

“I think what it [the social media conversation in question] to me was someone who used terms that I wouldn’t have used,” Oliver said, adding that Chaimanis told him that he was trying to learn and not attacking transgender people.

Chaimanis wasn’t at Saturday’s event to answer for the 2024 Facebook comments. At one point, Randy Block (ward councilor for Ward 4) sat down and answered questions, prompting some people to wonder if he was filling in for Chaimanis since the table was designated for at-large candidates, and Block is a ward councilor. It turned out Block—who doesn’t have an opponent—was just there to participate as himself, not as a surrogate.

Left to right: Nathan Persampieri, holding the Ward 2 table’s “talking stick,” asks questions while city councilors David Micley, Susan Albright and Tarik Lucas listen at the League of Women Voters’ Afternoon at the Races event on Oct. 4. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Indeed, most of the candidates at the event have no opponents, because Newton has 24 City Council seats and they’re all up for reelection every two years. So Block, along with Oliver, Lucas and councilors Julia Malakie, Alison Leary and others, were there talking with voters.

For an event full of voters and politicians four weeks before an election, the room was calm. There was no yelling, and if there were insults, they were hurled so quietly beneath the murmur of respectable conversations that they went unnoticed.

The League of Women Voters has leaned into its directive to foster more election participation, coming out with a newsletter series this year and hosting events to connect voters to their local democracy at a time when the federal government is in chaos and political violence is on the rise.

City Councilor Rena Getz, left, and City Council Ward 5 candidate Garry Miller, right, talk with voters at the League of Women Voters’ Afternoon at the Races event on Oct. 4. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Saturday’s event gave new candidates like Irish and Cyrus Dahmubed a chance to highlight their backgrounds—Irish is a researcher and president of the Upper Falls Area Council, and Dahmubed is an architectural designer—while incumbents discussed their accomplishments in government.

If Saturday’s event did nothing else, it tested candidates’ stamina. The Afternoon at the Races stretched nearly three hours long and voters were sitting and asking questions the whole time.

Newton’s election will be Nov. 4.

Ward 6 at-large City Council candidate Ted Gross speaks to voters while fellow candidates Sean Roche and Lisa Gordon listen at the League of Women Voters’ Afternoon at the Races event on Oct. 4. Photo by Bryan McGonigle