Mullen wins Pelham mayoral race, as running-mates Spira-Cohen, Carpenter, Hill-Ries sweep trustee posts; village elections will move to November

The Democratic/Pelham Forward party candidates swept the Village of Pelham elections Tuesday night. Chance Mullen won the mayoral race, while Arielle Spira-Cohen, Lisa Hill-Reis and Mike Carpenter all captured trustee seats, according to unofficial Westchester County Board of Elections (BOE) results.

Proposition 1, which called for future Village of Pelham elections to take place in November instead of March, was approved by a margin 812 to 498, according to the BOE’s unofficial tally.

The following unofficial vote totals for all five Pelham voting districts were provided by the BOE:

Democratic/Pelham Forward PartyRepublican/Pelham Village Party
Mayor: Chance Mullen
842 votes
Mayor: Candice Ripoll
573 votes
Trustee: Ariel Spira-Cohen (incumbent)
813 votes
Trustee: Arthur Long
580 votes
Trustee: Lisa Hill-Ries
798 votes
Trustee: Stephen Doka
621 votes
Trustee: Mike Carpenter
824 votes
Trustee: LeRoy Marriott
557 votes

Prior to this election, Mullen and Spira-Cohen served for two years on the Pelham Board of Trustees. Carpenter has served on the village planning board since 2015, while Hill-Reis was appointed to the Sustainability Advisory Board last year.

The Democratic ticket beat out the opposing Republican/Pelham Village Party, which ran on a platform of reduced development in the village, particularly calling for a stop to rental construction.

Among the issues the Democrats’ pressed for were traffic and pedestrian safety and the business district floating zone (BDFZ), which set new codes for expanded commercial and residential development in Pelham. The winning candidates supported new housing development in Pelham, such as the 101 Wolfs Lane plan.

The candidates were also in favor of sustainable alternatives. As trustees, Spira-Cohen and Mullen championed efforts to bring Solarize Pelham to the community. Forty-two homes in Pelham have adopted solar power.

The mayor-elect and trustees-elect will take office on April 1.