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Indicted Fall River Mayor To Try Third-Party Write-In Straw To Save Re-Election Bid
October 1, 2019
Jasiel Correia II, the indicted Fall River mayor who federal prosecutors say bilked investors in his private company before he was mayor and shook down marijuana companies for bribes as mayor, is planning to use a third-party write-in candidate to try to win re-election in November, according to a leaked audio recording of a campaign meeting reported by the Fall River Herald News.
Correia barely made the general election ballot in a distant second place behind frontrunner Paul Coogan, who got three times as many votes as he did in the primary election September 17. Under normal circumstances, the primary result means Correia has little chance of winning in November.
But Correia survived a recall election in March by garnering a plurality of votes in a divided field of five candidates. While 60 percent of voters voted to recall him, he still got the highest number of votes among the five candidates running in that election.
He’s hoping to pull off something comparable in November, with the help of a late-entering write-in candidate who can siphon off votes from Coogan, according to the Fall River Herald News.
Observers say the strategy is unlikely to succeed.
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