Election season in Wareham is heating up, as nearly all races are now contested. 

The majority of races became contested after one person took out nomination papers: former Select Board member Brenda Eckstrom. 

Eckstrom took out papers for both the three-year and two-year Select Board seats, for a Sewer User seat on the Sewer Commission which must be filled by a user of the sewer district, for a one-year term on the Housing Authority, for a seat on the School Committee and the Board of Assessment and for the position of Deputy Moderator. 

The only races for which Eckstrom did not take out papers are a non-Sewer User seat on the Sewer Commission and a five-year term on the Housing Authority. 

Eckstrom took out nomination papers for every position because she’s “sick of seeing people walk in unopposed," she said. She is trying to get other people to run, and if she does, she may not need to run herself for every position, she added. 

However, "I could do all of them," she said. 

She served on the Select Board in the late 2000s when it still did the duties now divested to the Sewer Commission, and is familiar as well with the School Department, she said. 

In addition to her time on the Select Board, Eckstrom has served on the Board of Assessors, the Onset Board of Water Commissioners and on the School Council for the former Hammond School. She has remained active in town affairs in recent years, consistently authoring citizens petitions for Town Meeting. 

Multiple other candidates have thrown their hats in the ring in recent weeks.

Claire Smith has taken out nomination papers for the position of Deputy Moderator. She served as the Town Moderator starting in 2010 before choosing not to run for re-election in 2022. 

Smith decided to run because the former deputy moderator is not running, she said. She still sits on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Moderators Association, and still goes to town meetings the same way she has since she was 18, she added. "I've been involved, I fully understand what the role is."

John Donahue has taken out nomination papers for the Town Assessor seat, joining Steve Curry and Brenda Eckstrom in the race. 

The Select Board race is now a packed contest, with Sarah Corbitt, Jared Fredrickson, Brenda Eckstrom, Deneen Rose, Amanda Frost, and Russ Kriehn striving for the two-year term. So far, only Eckstrom and Sherry Quirk are running for the three-year term. 

Corbitt serves on the Board of Trustees for the Wareham Free Library and serves on the Wareham Land Trust. She's held several positions throughout a career within the field of journalism, including Director of Digital Platforms with GateHouse Media and Gannett, Product Manager with Gannett and editor in chief of MPG Newspapers, a group of local papers that included the Wareham Courier.

Corbitt chose to run because she loves the town and the people of the town and wants to serve them, she said. 

"I think there's a lot of really good people in this town, and when there was an opening on the Select Board, I decided to take a shot at it, because I actually do like serving, I love public service,” she said.

Fredrickson is a senior at UMass Boston studying political science and public policy and is a Wareham native. He worked this past fall as an intern with the Redevelopment Authority, getting some hands-on experience with the planning projects the town is developing. 

Fredrickson said that with Wareham having a lot of big upcoming projects — particularly with the redevelopment of Merchant's Way and with the town's sewer issues — he thought it was time for a new voice on the board. "I think Wareham's ready for a new kind of leadership," he said.

The Wareham Week is in the process of reaching out to Rose, Frost and Kriehn. 

Quirk joined the Wareham Planning Board in March 2022, and joined the newly-established Alternative Energy Committee in August 2023. In both roles, Quirk has worked to regulate the development of solar energy fields in Wareham, bringing with her the background expertise of a 50-year career in energy law, seeking to balance landowner rights with the health, safety and welfare of Wareham residents and the environment. 

"I started thinking about running for the Select Board last Fall, when a few people suggested I consider it," Quirk said. "I decided to run because I have had a long career in solving hard problems, particularly in the energy area, but beyond as well. The Town is a special place and has some challenging issues before it."

While taking out nomination papers is the first step toward getting on the ballot, candidates are not confirmed to be on the ballot until nomination papers are returned. 

Incumbents continue onward

In addition to Eckstrom, the School Committee race has two incumbents currently in the running for two three-year terms: Apryl Rossi and Geoff Swett. 

Rossi joined the School Committee in 2019, and won re-election in 2021. Rossi has worked as a hairstylist at TarraDean Studio in Onset, and has served as a Wareham Tigers cheerleading coach and board member, has volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club in Onset and has worked as a substitute teacher in Wareham schools. 

Rossi said she has loved being on the School Committee the past five years, and considers it her number one concern that students, staff and others in the district have all the support they need and deserve. Her priority is keeping students in the district of Wareham, she added, and she wanted to listen to and address the concerns of parents and students who choose to go to outside districts such as Bourne or Carver. 

The other incumbent candidate in the School Committee race, Swett has served a total of 14 years on the School Committee, and he served six years on the Finance Committee before that time. He chaired the School Building Committee, which oversaw the construction of the new elementary school, and has coached the high school girls tennis team. 

"I've been doing it a long time," said Swett. He sees this year's challenge as a financial one, as federal money is drying up in this fiscal year, and the School District needs to prepare for a difficult fiscal situation while still meeting the ever-growing needs of the district's kids. 

Both Swett and Rossi mentioned as well that the School Committee recently hired Superintendent Matt D'Andrea, and they both saw continuity on the board is important. 

Eckstrom has joined a Sewer Commission race alongside James Giberti and Sandra Slavin, who are each incumbents running for their seats on the Sewer Commission. 

Giberti joined at the Commission's creation in 2015, and holds a non Sewer User seat. Giberti has served on the Finance Committee and the Capital Planning Committee, and currently chairs the Golf Advisory Committee, which oversees the town's purchase of Little Harbor Country Club. 

Slavin joined in 2018 with a Sewer User seat, the seat that is contested by Eckstrom.Slavin has served as a member of the Garden Club, as the treasurer of the Wareham Historical Society, the Tobey Hospital Guild and the Wareham Community Gardens and on the Conservation Commission, Open Space Committee and Affordable Housing Trust. She is also on the Community Preservation Committee, the Minot Forest Committee and the Capital Planning Committee.