Warwick candidates passed another campaign milestone last week, with the submission of nomination papers to the city’s Board of Canvassers by Friday.

Three candidates running in Warwick have not submitted the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot, according to the Voter Information Center on the Secretary of State’s website. Of the three, one- Dennis Paolucci, who was running as an independent in Ward 3- withdrew his candidacy. The other two- John Ritchie, running as an independent for mayor and Dana Traversie, running as a Republican for House District 23- did not return their nomination papers, according to Warwick Director of Elections Krista Tracy.

This time around, only three seats on the City Council are currently uncontested. Of the other seats, Wards 2, 3, 4 and 6- have GOP challengers, while Wards 4, 5 and 7 have independents in the mix.

City Council

Wards 1, 8 and 9 all are uncontested, giving Councilmen William Foley, Anthony Sinapi, and Vincent Gebhart- all Democrats- a clear path to reelection.

The Council’s other incumbents running for reelection- Ward 2’s Jeremy Rix and Ward 5’s Ed Ladouceur- have challengers. Rix will be facing Republican John Paola, while Ladouceur will be up against independent Michael Koerner.

Of the other four seats, Wards 3 and 6 will be contested between both major parties. In Ward 3, Democrat Bryan Nappa- endorsed by Councilman Tim Howe- will be going up against former Warwick City GOP Chair Richard Cascella. In Ward 6, Democrat William Muto will be facing Republican Beth Lane Italiane.

Ward 4, meanwhile, will have candidates from both major parties as well as an independent candidate. Mike Penta, who ran for the seat as an independent in 2022 and was also formerly a Republican, will be the Democratic candidate this year, facing off against Republican Steven Hopkins and Joanne Miller, who is running as an independent.

Ward 7 promises the most chaos, with three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination- Jackie Anderson, who ran for the Democratic nomination in House District 23 against Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi in 2022, Jack Kirby, who has been the Democratic nominee for mayor on multiple occasions, and Steve Mulcahey, the recording secretary of the Rhode Island Democratic Party. Kirby has the party’s endorsement. Whoever wins the primary will face independents Roger Ceresi and Jeffrey Chapdelaine in the general election.

State House

Two out of Warwick’s three Senate seats will see races, with District 30’s Mark McKenney the only uncontested incumbent.

In Warwick’s only Republican-held seat, incumbent Anthony DeLuca will face the winner of a Democratic primary between 2022 nominee Jennifer Rourke and Peter Appollonio, Jr. District 31 will see a rematch of 2022, with Democratic incumbent Matthew LaMountain facing Republican Lisa Morse. LaMountain won 2022’s election with 61.6% of the vote.

In the House of Representatives, incumbents Joe McNamara, David Bennett and Evan Shanley will all run unopposed. With Traversie not qualifying for the ballot, Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi will join the list of unopposed candidates as well.

What will likely be Warwick’s closest race for a state office is to succeed State Representative Camille Vella-Wilkinson in House District 21. Republican Marie Hopkins lost by only 38 votes in 2022, and she’s running again this year. The Democrat running to replace Vella-Wilkinson is James McElroy, who currently represents Ward 4 on the City Council.

Next door in District 22, incumbent Democrat Joseph Solomon, Jr. will be facing Republican David Stone. The race will be a rematch of 2022, which Solomon won with 56.1% of the vote.

House District 26- primarily based in West Warwick but including a tiny sliver of the westernmost part of Warwick- will have a competitive race to replace Patricia Morgan, who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Earl Reed III is running as the Democrat in District 26, Jeffrey Fisher, Republican, and Vincent Marzullo independent.

Mayor and School Committee

With one of the three independent candidates for Mayor- John Ritchie- not amassing enough signatures to make it on the ballot, an independent and a Democrat are challenging Mayor Frank Picozzi.

Picozzi, a former School Committee member, will be up against Leah Hazelwood, the current vice chair of the School Committee, who is running as a Democrat. The third candidate in the race is yet another former School Committee member- Patrick Maloney, Jr.

As the three current and former School Committee members face off, the two at-large School Committee seats up for election this year will be contested by five candidates. Those seats are currently held by David Testa and Karen Bachus, who are both running for reelection.

Bachus and Testa will be facing challenges from three other hopefuls- Zachary Colón, Anthony Corrente, Jr., and Sean Wiggins. School Committee elections are nonpartisan.