Ward 2 council seat may not be safe for city GOP
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Jamestown Republicans surely couldn't have guessed, just two weeks ago, that they could lose another seat on the City Council in a year in which the council wasn't up for re-election.
The passing of Tony Dolce, however, makes that situation a reality.
Jason Sample, endorsed by the city Democratic Party, is running against Republican candidate Bryan S. Bigelow for the seat vacated by the recent passing of Tony Dolce. Both candidates turned in nominating petitions on July 28.
While the seat has been held by a Republican for the past 30 years, one can argue that is true largely because Dolce largely outperformed his fellow Republicans in Ward 2 for years.
One year after losing the council majority for the first time in five years, Republicans could lose another seat on the council if they are unable to hold Dolce's seat. History says that is a possibility.
Going back to 2011, Dolce outperformed his party's enrollment percentages in Ward 2 every year. In that election Dolce ran unopposed and received 78% of the votes in Ward 2 in a year in which Republicans only accounted for 38.8 active enrolled voters in the ward. In 2015, the percentage of enrolled Republicans went down to 37.2%, with Dolce winning 69.8% of the vote. Republican enrollment in the ward was 36.6% in 2019, with Dolce winning 67.1% of the vote. And, in his final election in 2023, Dolce captured 76.7% of the vote in a ward that had 46.6% of enrolled voters registering as Republican.
The difference is also stark when one compares Dolce's results in Ward 2 with mayoral candidates' results from both parties – but particularly Republican candidates – in Ward 2. In 1999, incumbent Mayor Richard Kimball won 41.4% of the vote in Ward 2 while Dolce won 51.4% of the vote in his tightest race as a ward councilman. In 2003, Kimball won 37.4% of the vote in Ward 2 while Dolce won 53.6% of the vote. Dolce won 51.3% of the vote in 2007, with 338 blank/void ballots, while the Republican mayoral candidate in 2007 received 35.8% of the vote in Ward 2. In 2011, with Mayor Sam Teresi running unopposed, the Democratic Party's candidate for mayor received 77.5% of the vote in Ward 2, with Dolce outpolling Teresi with 78% of the vote. Teresi actually outperformed Dolce in Ward 2 in 2015. Teresi was running unopposed while Dolce was running against challenger Joseph Scapelitte. Teresi received 76.7% of the Ward 2 vote while Dolce received 69.8%.
In his final two elections, Dolce outperformed both mayoral candidates. The 2019 election, in which Dolce was opposed by Thomas Vitale, Dolce won Ward 2 with 67.1% of the vote. He captured a higher percentage of the vote than both Eddie Sundquist's 54.8% and David Wilfong, who won 45.2% of the Ward 2 vote.
And, three years ago, Dolce won 76.7% of the Ward 2 vote, with Mayor Kim Ecklund winning 48.4% and Sundquist receiving 50.2%.
Republicans took control of the City Council in January 2020 after the party picked up two additional seats on the council with the election of Jeff Russell and Grant Olson. That election gave Republicans control of the council for the first time in 12 years and pushed Dolce into the role of council president for six years. The 2025 November saw Democrats flip four seats to take a 5-4 edge on the council. City Republicans had been hoping to retake the council when council elections are held in 2027, but prior to Dolce's passing that would have entailed taking one seat.
The race between Sample and Bigelow bears watching, because no one knows if Ward 2's support of Dolce will carry over to future Republicans running in the ward or if Democrats will benefit from the enrollment edge they have in the north side district. For years there was little need to watch Ward 2 election results because it was a foregone conclusion that Dolce would retain his seat. That will change in November, with all of the city's politically oriented eyes focused on the city's north side.