In the race to replace Ward 4 Councilman James McElroy, who is running for House District 21, Joanne Miller, running as an independent, has decided to try her luck in politics.

Miller, a 64-year-old mother of four, is originally from New York City and has lived in Warwick since 1987. She is a former ballerina, and operated a ballet studio in addition to managerial and administrative roles. This is her first run for any office.

Miller is a former Republican, but disaffiliated from the party, running as an independent due to what she called “problems in both parties from the ground up.”

She was inspired to run because of what she said was a repeated pattern of the council stonewalling people with legitimate questions and fiscal irresponsibility.

What most concerns Miller is the city’s economic state, which she said would be her top priority if she is elected to the council. Excessive spending, she said, had to be curbed.

“The current council, and other office holders, with the exception of one or two people, is deeply guilty of reckless overspending,” Miller said in the statement announcing her run. “They know that there has been no accountability in place so they continue to make irresponsible decisions with taxpayer money.”

As for her thoughts on the current councilman, Miller criticized McElroy’s communications and community outreach, saying he had been “present but not there” during his six years on the council and that she was not sure of what he had done while on the council.

“He was pretty much unreachable except by one person in the community,” Miller said. “The voicemail was always full. The emails were not returned.”

As a result, Miller said she’s going to run her campaign as publicly as possible. Miller promised that should she be elected, she would hold quarterly community meetings in Conimicut where Ward 4 voters could give her feedback and let her know what they’d like to see.

“People can tell me their complaints,” Miller said. “They can tell me what they like, they can tell me what they need, and sort of unify the community.”

The race for Ward 4 is now a two-person one- Steven Hopkins, the Republican candidate, withdrew his candidacy last week, leaving Miller and Democrat Mike Penta. Penta ran as an independent candidate in 2022, winning 27.4% of the vote in a three-person race.

Miller described Penta as a great person who she really likes on a personal level. What Miller said differentiates her from Penta is that she does not have pre-existing relationships with groups in the city such as local unions and local business owners, saying that while she wasn’t sure if he’d be beholden to them, she wouldn’t be beholden to anyone.

“Mike has a lot of people around him that might have expectations of him- I’m not saying Mike will kowtow to them, but I’m saying that he does have a lot of people’s expectations,” Miller said. Pointing upwards, she continued, “I belong to nobody but myself and him.”

With campaign season heating up, Miller said she would be introducing herself to voters over the next couple of months, walking the ward as temperatures cool down.

Miller’s message to Ward 4 voters, she said, was a simple one.

“Every person, every penny, every policy counts,” Miller said. “What we do counts, and what we spend counts, and it’s all going to affect you. So I’m here to represent everyone in the village going through the same thing.”