John F. Ward (Mayor of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, candidate 2024)

John F. Ward

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Nonpartisan

Candidate, Mayor of Woonsocket

Elections and appointments

Last election

September 10, 2024

Personal

Birthplace

Woonsocket, R.I.

Religion

Roman Catholic

Profession

Government administration

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

John F. Ward ran for election to the Mayor of Woonsocket in Rhode Island. He was on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024.^[source]

Ward completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

John F. Ward provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on October 25, 2024:

• Birth date: January 24, 1955
• Birth place: Woonsocket, Rhode Island
• High school: Mt. St. Charles Academy
• Bachelor's: Bryant College (now University), 1981
• Gender: Male
• Religion: Roman Catholic
• Profession: Government Administration
• Prior offices held:
  • City Council member - President (2005-2024)
  • School Committee member - Chairman (1995-2005)
• Incumbent officeholder: No
• Campaign slogan: Experience Matters
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook

Elections

General election

General election for Mayor of Woonsocket

Christopher Alan Beauchamp and John F. Ward ran in the general election for Mayor of Woonsocket on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Christopher Alan Beauchamp (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	John F. Ward (Nonpartisan)

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	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Woonsocket

Christopher Alan Beauchamp, Keith Andrew Harrison, and John F. Ward ran in the primary for Mayor of Woonsocket on September 10, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Christopher Alan Beauchamp (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	Keith Andrew Harrison (Nonpartisan)
	Submit photo	John F. Ward (Nonpartisan)

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	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Ward in this election.

Campaign themes

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

John F. Ward completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ward's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I have been involved as an elected official since 1995, serving on the Woonsocket School Committee for ten years and now on the City Council for fourteen years. Additionally, my work experience is primarily in senior governmental positions in finance and management. Now that I have retired, I am interested in offering my experience to work to repair the damaged systems and reputation that the city has been suffering through.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Bring professionalism and integrity into the daily operations of city hall
• Promote honest economic development that can truly attract business to the community.
• Promote state-wide improved education funding for the most needy students struggling through life that we cannot afford ourselves as a lower taxable value and lower household income community.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Education and finance

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Ronald Reagan as a principled idealist.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, and ferocious integrity whereby a politician works every day to do the right thing while holding themselves and all who they work with accountable to the people they serve.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Significant experience and high ethical standards

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The main responsibility of the mayor of Woonsocket is to be a well qualified , professional manager of the city operations. Those operations include providing public safety, safe and well maintained infrastructure for transportation and recreation, support as best as possible a sound and effective education system, and maintain the public records and mange the financial transactions necessary to accomplish all the aforementioned responsibilities.

What legacy would you like to leave?

That I did my best.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

President Kennedy assassinated. I was 8 years old.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Delivered newspapers for 5 years (9-14)

A mayor is a leader in his or her city. What does that mean to you?

Lead through public engagement and action.

If the mayor in your city is not a member of the city council and oversees the day-to-day administration of the city government, what do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor and city council?

A mayor must reach out to the council to provide regular updates and information about those things being worked ion and engage in communication regarding issues that the administration will be bringing to the city council for their consideration.

What do you love most about your city?

People, history, and possibilities.

What do you perceive to be your city's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Homeless population challenges caused and exacerbated by national circumstances surrounding housing availability and inadequate wage availability. The distortion of our economy is the result of the globalization of economic activity, promoting overseas manufacturing of low cost goods and suppressing wages nationally. That has had the effect of making housing (which is in short supply) become unaffordable and the result will cause the government to intercede in developing affordable housing.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the state government?

Must be significantly improved.

Tell us your favorite joke.

Pretty much anything form Monty Python.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor's office and law enforcement?

Close, with daily engagement and analysis of challenges and trends.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

As I mentioned earlier, always do the right thing and hold myself and those I am responsible to direct accountable to our citizens. Full transparency of our operations and a reliable, free flow of public information made available every day should be a basic requirement of any administration I serve or manage.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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