Ted Gatsas Won’t Run Against Joyce Craig a Third Time
Joe Kelly Levasseur Sole Remaining Heavy-Hitter Among Potential Republican Candidates
MANCHESTER, NH — Former Mayor Ted Gatsas announced he will not seek a rematch with Joyce Craig in 2021. Gatsas’ eight years in office ended four years ago, when he was decisively defeated by Craig, the first woman to be elected mayor of the Queen City.
The defeat handed to him by Craig is the only political contest Gatsas lost in his long political career. In their first match-up in 2015, he won by the razor thin margin of 64 votes, after a recount.
A pragmatic, business-oriented Republican, Ted Gatsas represents Manchester as the Executive Councilor from District Four.
There were rumors at the end of 2020 that Governor Sununu was pressuring Gatsas to run again, an idea supported by former Congressional candidate Matt Mayberry. At the time, he told the New Hampshire Journal that he didn’t intend to make a run to retake his old office, as he was focused on the Executive Council.
Both of the Republican candidates seeking to unseat Mayor Craig — former State Representative Victoria Sullivan and ex-alderman/ex-school board member Rich Girard — lost their previous bids for the mayor’s office in landslide defeats. Neither is likely to defeat Craig, even with the support of Governor Chris Sununu.
With Ted Gatsas out, Alderman at Large Joe Kelly Levasseur is the sole remaining GOP heavyweight that could turn the November 2021 Queen City mayor match-up into a real fight. Levasseur often is the top vote-getter city-wide among non-mayoral candidates.
The municipal election filing period runs from July 12th to July 23rd.
