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The three candidates for the at-large seat on the city council are criss-crossing Longmont almost daily looking to secure votes for the Nov. 8 election. Along the way they are learning from residents about their hopes and concerns for the city.
Mitizi Nicoletti, Sean McCoy and Gary Hodges are seeking the seat vacated last year by Joan Peck, who won her bid to become mayor. The council declined to appoint someone to fill Peck’s position or to ask voters earlier this year to pick a successor, citing the high cost of putting on an election before November.
The election thus far has drawn over $13,000 in contributions, with Nicoletti raising the most money. She also has collected endorsements from Peck, State Rep. Tracey Bernett and Elise Champe, ‘esclipse Apparel founder.
A dedicated early morning rower, Nicoletti has served as a board member for Sustainable Resilient Longmont and chaired the SRL Renewable Energy Committee. She said she wants to connect people and groups to build more affordable housing and produce environmental sustainability.
She said she is proud she has attracted donations from over $200 to $30. “People are giving what they can to help me and I appreciate their generosity,” Nicoletti said.
She also has a core group of volunteers who have knocked on doors over the past several weeks to garner votes. But getting to know residents is the greatest benefit of campaigning, Nicoletti said.
“Honestly, for me the best part of running is just walking the community and visiting people,” she said. “You realize, when you talk to people face-to-face, that we all have more things in common than we don’t.”
There is also a persistent theme in her talks with residents, Nicoletti said. “There are a lot of people who live in Longmont, who care about the city. They tell me how much they enjoyed living here.”
McCoy is a former city council member from 2007 and 2011 and has served on multiple boards and commissions. “I have done the homework, I have studied the issues,” McCoy said. “I am always trying to get better educated about the solutions that are out there.”
McCoy lost in his bid for a seat on the council in 2021 and was able to use some of the same signs — and funding — he collected during that run to funnel into this year’s effort.
He said his campaign has financially lagged behind Nicoletti and Hodges and he blames a ballot crowded with legislative races and a slowing economy that has slowed donations. “Those dollars for many people are very tight right now,” McCoy said.
Hodges, he added, is being supported by a group of longtime local conservatives. “They have had a bully pulpit for over 50 years in Longmont. But those times are changing,” McCoy said.
Hodges has also made disparaging the homeless in Longmont a key theme in his campaign, he said. “What I have found is that his message is out of touch with most people in Longmont,” McCoy said.
Hodges — who served for seven years on Longmont’s Transportation Advisory Board — said he is a political novice who decided to run only because he heard persistent complaints that Longmont lost control over vagrancy.
He said he’s heard the same grumbling from business owners and residents on Main Street, especially north of 17th Avenue, while canvassing neighborhoods.
Homeless now are more inclined to seek services in Longmont that allow them to stay on the street rather than getting a permanent place to live, Hodges said, adding he is not indifferent to the plight of the homeless. “They are people, like the rest of us and many of whom have hit hard times,” he said.
However, there is a fear among many he has talked to that Longmont will be seen as a refuge to the homeless and will come here to take advantage of the city’s generosity, he said.
“And I think a lot of people are receptive to hearing someone speak about this issue honestly and truthfully,” Hodges said. “I am just trying to bring truth and honesty to the people I talk to out there.”
Hodges knows he differs from Nicoletti and McCoy on the homeless issue as well as others. He said at a recent forum he is likely to end up casting the lone dissenting vote on the council if he is elected.
But, Hodges said, he is not going to change his message just to get elected.
“People out there are interested in what I have to say,” he said. “Sometimes they give me money and put my name in their front yard. It pushes me to try to win.”
