Mark Costa
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Mark Costa is an at-large representative on the Fall River Public Schools school board in Massachusetts. First elected in 2005, Costa won a new term in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Biography
Costa served in the Army National Guard and earned a B.S. degree in psychology from Bridgewater State College. Throughout his career, he worked with St. Vincent’s Home, the KEY Program Inc., the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, the Massachusetts Probation Department, and the Fall River District Court.[1]
Elections
2017
Six seats on the Fall River Public Schools School Committee in Massachusetts were up for general election on November 7, 2017. Incumbents Paul Coogan, Mark Costa, and Joseph Martins won their re-election bids along with challengers Kevin Aguiar, Joshua Hetzler, and Thomas Khoury. Challengers Amy M. Blanchette, David Cowen Jr., Susan Gancarski Dunse, Kristen Gauvin, Crystal Stone, and Jessica Wong were defeated in the general election on November 7, 2017. Challenger Sean Connell was defeated in the primary election on September 12, 2017.[2][3] Wong unofficially withdrew from the race in October 2017, but her name still appeared on the ballot.[4][5]
All seven seats on the school committee were up for election. The seventh seat was held by the mayor of Fall River, but was not covered by Ballotpedia as the city fell outside of municipal elections coverage.[2]
Results
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Paul Coogan Incumbent |
13.91% | 7,393 |
| Mark Costa Incumbent |
11.68% | 6,208 |
| Joseph Martins Incumbent |
10.90% | 5,795 |
| Kevin Aguiar |
10.53% | 5,598 |
| Joshua Hetzler |
9.91% | 5,269 |
| Thomas Khoury |
9.60% | 5,099 |
| Kristen Gauvin | 8.47% | 4,503 |
| Amy M. Blanchette | 6.61% | 3,511 |
| Jessica Wong | 5.50% | 2,924 |
| Crystal Stone | 5.49% | 2,919 |
| Susan Gancarski Dunse | 4.50% | 2,394 |
| David Cowen Jr. | 2.84% | 1,510 |
| Write-in votes | 0.04% | 19 |
| Total Votes | 53,142 | |
| Source: Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Elizabeth Camara," December 2, 2017 | ||
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large Primary Election, 2-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Kevin Aguiar |
13.12% | 4,106 |
| Paul Coogan Incumbent |
12.84% | 4,018 |
| Joseph Martins Incumbent |
11.47% | 3,592 |
| Mark Costa Incumbent |
11.23% | 3,515 |
| Joshua Hetzler |
8.74% | 2,737 |
| Thomas Khoury |
8.47% | 2,650 |
| Kristen Gauvin |
6.34% | 1,986 |
| Amy M. Blanchette |
6.09% | 1,908 |
| Jessica Wong |
5.57% | 1,743 |
| Crystal Stone |
5.10% | 1,598 |
| Susan Gancarski Dunse |
4.28% | 1,339 |
| David Cowen Jr. |
3.43% | 1,073 |
| Sean Connell | 3.32% | 1,040 |
| Total Votes | 31,305 | |
| Source: Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Elizabeth Camara, Fall River Elections," October 6, 2017 | ||
Funding
The City of Fall River does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
2015
Six seats on the Fall River School Committee were up for election on November 3, 2015. Incumbents Joseph Martins, Melissa Karam Panchley, Mark Costa, and Gabriel Andrade won re-election, while newcomers Paul Coogan and Edward Costar joined the board. All of the six incumbents on the board — Andrade, Costa, Martins, Panchley, Paul Hart, and Robert Maynard — sought re-election. Hart, Maynard, and challenger Sean Connell were defeated in the election.[6]
Results
| Fall River School Committee, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Paul Coogan |
14.0% | 7,474 |
| Joseph Martins Incumbent |
12.7% | 6,770 |
| Melissa Karam Panchley Incumbent |
12.4% | 6,618 |
| Mark Costa Incumbent |
12.3% | 6,556 |
| Edward Costar |
12.0% | 6,442 |
| Gabriel Andrade Incumbent |
10.7% | 5,727 |
| Paul Hart Incumbent | 10.4% | 5,558 |
| Robert Maynard Incumbent | 8.4% | 4,477 |
| Sean Connell | 7.1% | 3,815 |
| Write-in votes | 0.07% | 35 |
| Total Votes | 53,472 | |
| Source: Nick Katers, "Email exchange with Fall River Board of Elections Chair Elizabeth Camara," January 5, 2016 | ||
Funding
The Fall River City Clerk does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify any official endorsements for Costa in the election.
2013
Mark Costa, his fellow incumbents, and newcomer Melissa Karam Panchley defeated challengers Russell Desbiens, Lori DeSousa, and Dan Robillard to win six at-large seats in the general election on November 5, 2013.
Results
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Joseph Martins Incumbent |
15.6% | 6,484 | |
| Nonpartisan | Melissa Karam Panchley |
15% | 6,263 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mark Costa Incumbent |
14.4% | 5,996 | |
| Nonpartisan | Paul Hart Incumbent |
12.6% | 5,240 | |
| Nonpartisan | Gabriel Andrade Incumbent |
12.2% | 5,063 | |
| Nonpartisan | Robert Maynard Incumbent |
10.9% | 4,543 | |
| Nonpartisan | Lori DeSousa | 8% | 3,352 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dan Robillard | 7% | 2,926 | |
| Nonpartisan | Russell Desbiens | 4.3% | 1,797 | |
| Total Votes | 41,664 | |||
| Source: Jo C. Goode, The Herald News, "No changes in order following release of official Fall River election results," November 13, 2013 | ||||
Funding
Costa began the race with an existing account balance of $2.38 from his previous campaigns. He reported $2,603.75 in contributions and $1,313.85 in expenditures to the Fall River City Clerk, which left his campaign with $1,292.28 on hand in the election.[7]
Endorsements
Costa received an endorsement for his campaign from The Herald News.[8]
2011
| Fall River Public Schools, At-large General Election, 2-year term, 2011 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Joseph Martins Incumbent |
13% | 7,823 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mark Costa Incumbent |
12.2% | 7,336 | |
| Nonpartisan | Timothy McCoy Incumbent |
11.2% | 6,738 | |
| Nonpartisan | Paul Hart |
11.2% | 6,724 | |
| Nonpartisan | Richard Pavao Incumbent |
10.4% | 6,251 | |
| Nonpartisan | Robert Maynard Incumbent |
9.5% | 5,680 | |
| Nonpartisan | Gabriel Andrade | 9.1% | 5,439 | |
| Nonpartisan | Carla Sbardella | 8.5% | 5,082 | |
| Nonpartisan | Robert Tyrrell | 8.3% | 4,971 | |
| Nonpartisan | Louis Melim | 6.5% | 3,909 | |
| Total Votes | 59,953 | |||
| Source: Will Richmond, The Herald News, "Fall River's certified election results see no surprises," November 16, 2011 | ||||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Mark Costa Fall River Public Schools school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Fall River Public Schools, Massachusetts
- Fall River Public Schools elections (2017)
- Fall River Public Schools elections (2015)
- Fall River Public Schools elections (2013)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Herald News, "Mark Costa: Candidate for Fall River School Committee," September 16, 2013
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Herald News, "Final day to file: Preliminary Fall River school board election is a go," August 8, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Results of Fall River preliminary election," September 12, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Wong removes herself from consideration for Fall River School Committee," October 17, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Fall River City Election results 2017," November 7, 2017
- ↑ The Herald News, "Tuesday is final day for Fall River candidates to file certified nomination papers," August 17, 2015
- ↑ City of Fall River, Massachusetts, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed December 23, 2013
- ↑ The Herald News, "Our View: HN's endorsements for Fall River School Committee," accessed November 18, 2013
| Fall River Public Schools elections in 2017 | |
| Bristol County, Massachusetts | |
| Election date: | Primary election: September 12, 2017 • General election November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Paul Coogan • Incumbent, Mark Costa • Incumbent, Joseph Martins • Kevin Aguiar • Amy M. Blanchette • Sean Connell • David Cowen Jr. • Susan Gancarski Dunse • Kristen Gauvin • Joshua Hetzler • Thomas Khoury • Crystal Stone • Jessica Wong |
| Important information: | What's at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
| 2015 Fall River Public Schools Elections | |
| Bristol County, Massachusetts | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Gabriel Andrade • Incumbent, Mark Costa • Incumbent, Paul Hart • Incumbent, Joseph Martins • Incumbent, Robert Maynard • Incumbent, Melissa Karam Panchley • Sean Connell • Paul Coogan • Edward Costar |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
| ||||||||||
