A heavyweight battle in Tecumseh.
Current mayor Gary McNamara has filed his nomination papers and is seeking re-election in October’s municipal election.
McNamara is currently the longest-serving mayor in Windsor-Essex and has held the position of mayor in Tecumseh since 2003.
He was first elected to council in 1991 and then won the deputy mayor’s seat in 1998.
McNamara was re-elected as mayor in 2006, acclaimed in 2010, elected in 2014, and acclaimed again in 2018 and 2022.
Speaking on AM800’s The Kyle Horner Show, McNamara says there’s still work that needs to be done.
“I firmly believe that I’ve led this municipality under some tough situations before, whether it was the ’08, ’09, and ’10 financial crisis that hit us, or through COVID, and now here we are with tariffs,” says McNamara.
He feels his experience and resume will go a long way.
“I think with my experience and the network I’ve been able to build with the federal and provincial governments, it will go well in terms of making sure that we continue to fight for every job in our community,” he says.
Current deputy mayor Joe Bachetti filed his nomination papers for the mayor’s seat on Friday, May 1.
Bachetti was a councillor for 20 years and has been deputy mayor for 12 years.
McNamara feels it’s great to have a mayor’s race.
“Democracy is critically important,” says McNamara. “We got to excite the electorate out there, and just the last election, I think the voter turnout was under 29 per cent and so we need to involve, obviously, the community, very important.”