Former Officeholders Prepare for Comebacks

Two challengers pulled papers in the past two days for Attleboro's fall election, but both men have familiar faces. Former City Councilor John Davis pulled papers Wednesday for the Ward 3 council race and former School Committee member Jim Stors took out nomination papers for the Ward 2 and at-large school committee races. He must choose which contest he will officially enter.

Davis served as the Ward 5 councilor for four terms before giving up his seat to run for mayor in 2007. Mayor Kevin Dumas defeated him in that election. If he pursues the Ward 3 contest, Davis could face Council President Frank Cook, who is a seven-term incumbent. Cook is one of two sitting councilors who have not pulled papers as of Thursday. The other councilor is Sara-Lynn Reynolds, who said earlier this week she would not run because she will compete for Richard Ross' state senate seat  next year.

Stors previously served as the Ward 2 school committee member, and lost his seat to Bill Larson in the 2011 election. Larson will run for a secodn term.

"I'm not surprised that Jim is running, I expected that he would," wrote Larson in an email to Attleboro Patch. "I believe he enjoyed being on the school committee, I know I have. It's a great way to give back to the community. We both want to help out in any way we can."

Stors answered a few questions via email:

Attleboro Patch: Are you definitely running?  

Jim Stors: I am definitely planning on running. 

Patch: Why are you running or consider running?

Stors: I gained a lot of knowledge and experience when I served that I know will be an asset to the next school committee, and having just finished the interview portion as a member of the Superintendent Search Steering Committee I am excited about the future of our school district and would truly be honored to be able to serve Attleboro's children and families once again.

Patch: Why did you pull papers for both seats, are you leaning toward going for one of them?  

Stors: For the past two elections I ran as a ward representative and I really enjoyed serving my ward, but during and after the last election I had so many supporters from all over the city who said that they would love to vote for me but couldn't because they didn't live in my ward, and who encouraged me to run again at-large, so I am taking a hard look at both. I am planning on reaching out to my ward's current representative and talk to him about the last election before I make my final decision on whether to run for the ward seat or at-large.