Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan does not plan to seek re-election for a fifth term in 2027, he said Thursday.
Coogan, a Democrat running in the nonpartisan mayoral election, notched a tight win this week on Election Day. But this year, Republican challenger Gabriel “Boomer"
Amaral pulled about 49% of the votes to Coogan’s 50.7%, according to unofficial results.
Coogan said his decision not to pursue another term had nothing to do with his narrow margin of victory.
“I just thought eight years was enough. There's some things I want to accomplish in some of the projects in Fall River — particularly (on the) waterfront, and some of our infrastructure work I want to see through in our park improvements,” Coogan said. “So there's some things I want to finish up.”
A former longtime educator and School Committee member, Coogan has seen voter support erode over the past four elections. He notched his first term in office in 2019 with nearly 80% of the vote. On Tuesday, the margin between Coogan and challenger Amaral, a candidate with no previous political experience, was just 225 votes.
In an interview, Amaral said he plans to request a recount and is currently in the process of procuring 10 voter signatures from each of the 9 city wards. He plans to file the paperwork on Monday.
Amaral said that he felt that he did not have a strong enough say in how polling centers were staffed or organized.
“I had no say in any of the poll workers,” Amaral said. “The people that were in these larger areas were just all certain supporters of one side.”
Despite Amaral’s claims, Coogan said he’s doubtful of there being any voter fraud.
“It's very, very, highly unlikely with machines that anybody makes up over 200 votes,” Coogan said. “I guess he's going to follow his legal rights all the way to the end. That's fine with me. I'm pretty confident we'll stay where we are.”
Fall River has shifted rightward politically in recent years. Fall River voted for Trump in last year’s presidential election after a century of supporting Democrats in that race.
Coogan went on to say that he felt some of his biggest accomplishments during his tenure as Fall River mayor came during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had to learn on the run and try to accommodate as many residents as we could as we moved through the phases of the disease. From the lockdown to testing to vaccinations to, regretfully, the people that passed away or were hospitalized,” Coogan said. “That was a tremendous challenge in maneuvering the city through that. I thought we did a good job.”
Coogan’s upcoming term officially starts in January and he said that he is planning to focus on efforts to redevelop the city’s waterfront, public safety concerns and finding tenants for the Fall River Industrial Park Association.
