Melissa Cox, a relative newcomer to Gloucester making her first run for office, earned a seat as Ward 2's representative on the City Council when voters gave her a decisive victory Tuesday over one-term incumbent Ann Frontiero Mulcahey.
Cox, who has lived in Gloucester for five years, works as an accountant downtown and has volunteered with a number of local groups — serving, for example, as treasurer for this past summer's Gloucester Horribles Parade — ousted Mulcahey 557 votes to 287, capturing 65.9 percent of the vote.
Cox, greeting well wishers as the votes became finalized at City Hall, said she was "elated" with the results.
Now, as she steps up to the council, she said she has no firm agenda beyond views she outlined during the campaign.
"I don't know what's next," she said.
Mulcahey said she was disappointed with the turnout — just around 30 percent of the ward's voters cast ballots, a figure that largely held up citywide.
She said, however, she would put her energy toward the upcoming Relay For Life, and added that she'd stay involved in the city.
"I'm still the chair of Relay for Life, and I can put all my energy into that," Mulcahey said. "I always am," she said.
Mulcahey had captured the seat with a win over Roger Hussey in 2009, when 30-year Ward 2 Councilor John "Gus" Foote declined to seek re-election that year. Mulcahey, who also served for years on the city's Traffic Commission, had come within 16 votes of ousting Foote two years earlier, in 2007.
With her victory, Cox takes over representation of one of Gloucester's liveliest wards.
Ward 2, which includes most of the city's downtown, the historic Fort area and the Portuguese Hill neighborhood, has been a flashpoint for several key development sites, including the Birdseye property and the city's waterfront I-4, C-2 site.
And while both candidates talked during the campaign of being open to development, Cox clearly struck a chord with the business community and many residents, while others remembered Mulcahey's clashes with businesses over Commercial Street parking issues and a push to remove a seasonal bait wagon from St. Peter's Square.
Mulcahey had also staunchly opposed previous plans to redevelop the Birdseye site, though she had said she would be open to a hotel project that's now being brought forward by New Balance athletic shoe founder and owner Jim Davis, a part-time resident of Bay View.
Emily Glover, 33, voting at the Our Lady of Good Voyage parish center, with her two little girls — Ella, 3, and Deliliah, 20 months, in tow — said Tuesday she simply voted for Cox "to give her a chance."
"Change is good," added Richard Connolly, 48. "(Mulcahey) doesn't do anything for me. Change is good."
Paula Fulford, also voting at Our Lady of Good Voyage, said she stood by Mulcahey.
"I don't really know her, but she cleaned up my neighborhood," she said. "My neighbors said she did a great job, and I trust them."
During the campaign, Cox said she'd encourage tourist- and visitor-centered development on the city's largest development project, the I-4, C-2 lot at 65 Rogers St.
Cox's victory caps a race that had been marked by spots of vandalism. Both Cox and Mulcahey have had signs pulled down, or painted over during the campaign.
Steven Fletcher may be contacted at 1-978-283-7000 x3455, or sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevengdt.
