Nominees for Wellesley town-wide and Town Meeting seats have begun to pull papers at town hall, and more candidates have until next month to do so. So far, mostly incumbents have declared their intention to run for town-wide offices.

The big news so far is that there will be a contested race for two Select Board seats. Incumbents Tom Ulfelder and Beth Sullivan Woods, whose terms expire in March, both seek another term. Also competing for one of the two open seats is Marc Charney, currently chair of the Planning Board.

Both Ulfelder and Woods have served three 3-year terms.

School Committee has two 3-year seats available, with the Christina Horner’s 3-year term and Sharon Clarke’s 1-year term expiring in March. So far the one candidate who has pulled papers is Michael Cave, who had expressed interest in serving in 2024 when an interim seat opened.

We understand that some incumbents plan to pull papers for open town-wide seats and just haven’t done so yet. No one has yet pulled papers for key bodies such as the Planning Board and Natural Resources Commission.

Note that those who have pulled papers have until Jan. 13 to return them (in other words, just because a candidate has pulled papers doesn’t mean that they will go through with running).

Others who have pulled papers:

Incumbent Stephen Burtt, for Board of Assessors
Incumbent Janice Coduri for 2-year Housing Authority term
Incumbents Maria Gallo Ashbrook and Aunoy Banerjee, each of whom earlier this year were approved to fill vacant positions until the upcoming election.

Incumbent moderator Mark Kaplan
Michael McManus for Board of Public Works for a 2-year term (he was appointed earlier this year to fill a vacant slot)
Incumbent Ansley Martin for a 3-year Recreation Commission seat

The Town Clerk has begun posting the list of those who have pulled papers online, and will update it at least once a week on Fridays (possibly more frequently if there is a lot of activity). If you are curious about nominees in between Fridays you can go to Town Hall and look at the latest list on paper.

Anyone who was appointed to temporarily fill a seat will not have the listing “Candidate for Re-Election” next to their name on the ballot, as they were not elected.

The Town Election is March 3, 2026.