Because in a race with 26 candidates, you’ll only remember slogans

Everyone outside Cambridge thinks they understand why it’s kind of a weird place. But to truly apprehend how odd the city is, you really need to vote in one of its municipal elections. Especially this one. Where else in the area do you have a ranked choice voting system where every candidate is an at-large candidate with a theoretically equal chance of winning one of the nine seats on offer, and every incumbent has to run for reelection in every election? What makes this year’s council race particularly wild is that there are three open seats. Meaning that there are six incumbents running, including the current mayor (a councilor who is elevated by a vote of her peers), and no less than 20 other candidates.

Having attended a recent debate with most of the candidates in attendance, I can assure you that it’s no easy task to even remember anything about individual candidates, let alone choose one to give your coveted #1 vote to (and then assign your #2 through #26 votes—although few people bother to go further than picking their top four or five choices).

So, as a public service to DigBoston’s Cambridge readers, I’ve put together the following list of all 26 city council candidates with one line or two to three phrases for each that I think encapsulates their campaign material, and a link to their website. Each of the six incumbents is noted with an asterisk. Hope it helps. Just try not to remember that an appointed city manager actually holds much of the power in the “People’s Republic.” (D’oh!)

Ronald Benjamin: wants to create community, votebenjamin2017.com

Josh M. Burgin: 25 ideas for Cambridge, votejoshburgin.com

Dennis J. Carlone*: manage new development, true to community values, denniscarlone.com

Olivia D’Ambrosio: arts, but not a one-trick pony, vote-o.com

Jan Devereux*: civic engagement, sustainable growth, jandevereux.org

Samuel Gebru: entrepreneur, community organizer, gebruforcambridge.com

Richard Harding Jr.: advocate for working families, voteharding.org

Craig A. Kelley*: vibrant local democratic institutions crucial to US, craigkelley.org

Dan Lenke: little city halls, nano city halls, potlucks, danlenke.com

Ilan Levy: activist since 2006, fought for the Foundry, critic of the Volpe plan, vote1ilan.net

Alanna M. Mallon: prioritize public service by strengthening social safety nets, alannamallon.org

Marc C. McGovern*: for collaboration and social/economic justice, gets results, marcmcgovern.com

Gregg J. Moree: concerned about lack of options open for our young people, greggmoree.com

Adriane B. Musgrave: fight so everyone in Cambridge has economic opportunity, voteadriane.com

Nadya T. Okamoto: protect the concept of home for all Cantabrigians, votenadya.com

Hari I. Pillai: not selling out values just for more economic growth, cambridge2017.city

Jeff Santos: progressive broadcaster, backs affordable housing and a living wage, santosforcitycouncil.com

Sumbul Siddiqui: affordable housing, economic development, civic engagement, votesumbul.com

Denise Simmons*: understands unique needs of residents in our community, denisesimmons.com

Vatsady Sivongxay: bringing diverse voices to the decision-making table, vatsady.com

Bryan Sutton: can analyze complex systems and make data-driven decisions, bryansutton.org

Sean Tierney: experienced public servant, dedicated to Cambridge, seantierney.org

Paul F. Toner: engaging people with a diversity of opinions to find solutions, tonerforcambridge.com

Timothy J. Toomey Jr.*: experience and vision to guide Cambridge’s continued growth, timtoomey.org

Gwen Thomas Volmar: for affordable housing, against luxury high-rises, votegwen.org

Quinton Y. Zondervan: environmentalist, helped create the Net Zero Action Plan, votequinton.com

*indicates incumbent