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There’s an upcoming election in Somerville, and the claws are out
There is fierce feline competition in the race to elect a new bike path cat mayor.
Somerville residents can cast their vote in two elections this year: for mayor and, of course, for bike path cat mayor.
The sitting mayor of the Somerville Community Path is a 3-year-old shorthair named Berry. Berry’s owner, Mallory Bissett, initially declared her cat the bike path mayor to familiarize the community with her perpetually outdoor cat who refuses to wear a collar.
“We wanted to make sure that people knew that she had owners … and she wasn’t just a random cat roaming around,” Bissett told NBC10 Boston.
Now, Berry is up for reelection, and the competition is fiercely feline. Nearly a dozen cats have entered the race now with their political signs lining the bike path near Davis Square.
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Orange Cat, of the Catalyst Party, was the first neighborhood cat to oppose Berry.
Two French bulldogs, Duke and Ella, entered the race on a joint ticket with a slogan honing the Boston accent: “You got anyone betta??”
Cat candidate Minerva is raising whiskers with her campaign sign that features her photo and the word “Crime” on a black background. Somerville residents are wondering if Minerva is for or against.
Other candidates include Freya of the Com-meow-nist Party, Clawdius of the Indoro Cat Party, and Puzzle, who advocates for more cat naps.
“People just want to be able to have fun in their community, and a little bit of silliness is a good thing,” Bissett told 7News. “Everyone is appreciating the cat puns and cat-related political humor.”
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Berry received an endorsement from her fellow incumbent mayoral candidate, Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne. Ballantyne considers Berry to be an “experienced, proven leader,” she told The Boston Globe, and admires her approach to rat control.
Regardless of the outcome, Ballantyne told People, “I’m confident our new Bike Path Mayor will tackle the job with the same laser focus they use when staring at absolutely nothing for 20 minutes straight.”
A sign on the bike path includes a QR code of the ballot. Voting ends on Sept. 5, the last day to register to vote for the mayoral election in Somerville.
Here’s how community members are voting, per NBC10:
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