Unopposed, not unmotivated: Candidates make their cases

In a campaign with no opponent, School Committee candidate Drew Magliozzi recently mingled with voters over breakfast pastries and conversations about everything from solar power to school budgeting.

“I’m doing the best I can to run the same race whether someone [else] is in it or not,” he told supporters at a February 28 Acton Center coffeehouse meet-up.

Committee member Carrie Rankin opted against seeking another term this year. Magliozzi, an education technology executive, took the leap.

After two straight years of competitive School Committee races, Magliozzi is all but guaranteed to win on March 31, election day.

Candidates Stephan Bader and Karlen Reed are in similar spots as they run unopposed for Housing Authority and town moderator terms, respectively. Select Board hopefuls Dean Banfield and Sam Hiersteiner are the only candidates battling for a single town seat this year.

While the Select Board race simmers — and with a string of candidate forums scheduled next week — Magliozzi, Bader, and Reed are charting disparate paths through a campaign cycle sans slings and arrows.

“This election is very different,” Finance Committee member Gerard Jansen told The Acton Bridge at Magliozzi’s event. 

Drew Magliozzi

Magliozzi watched last year’s heated School Committee race and said he wasn’t sure he wanted to run. 

“It caused me a moment of pause before throwing my hat in the ring, thinking, ‘Is it going to be a campaign like that?’ Because that’s not how I operate,” he told The Bridge. 

But Magliozzi said he was spurred by a call to duty. His parents met as AmeriCorps volunteers, “so literally, public service is ingrained in me since before I was born.” 

He says his tech background positions him to address students’ use of artificial intelligence and smartphones. 

Other topics like equity and diversity are “top of mind,” he said, and he’s been making an effort to learn more through candidate coffees and one-on-one meetings.

Stephan Bader

This revolutionary town is no stranger to coronations. 

There have been no contested Housing Authority or moderator races in over a decade. 

In the last seven of 10 years, candidates have run uncontested for School Committee seats.

Bader said he considers a vote for a candidate, even one unopposed, an endorsement of the fact that “somebody has decided to step forward and agreed to take on the work.” 

The Housing Authority oversees Acton’s public housing units. Bader has been on the panel since 2021 and said he’s proud to have involved residents in policy discussions. 

He mentioned capital projects, including a sprinkler installation at the Everett Gardens complex that recently won state funding.

Bader lauded Acton’s many housing groups and said they’re coordinating, even if not every group or board is involved in every effort. 

“I’m not sure that was true five years ago,” he told The Bridge. 

Karlen Reed

Reed said current Town Moderator Carmin Reiss, who is not seeking reelection, was among those who encouraged her to run. 

Reiss will helm the 2026 Annual Town Meeting. The new moderator takes over after the final vote. 

Barring a surprise, Reed will get the job as Acton eyes Town Meeting reforms, including hybrid participation. Town Meeting voters endorsed this change last year, but the state legislature still must weigh in. Reed is interested in the technology needed to ensure that remote votes are secure.

She wants Town Meeting to be “fair, efficient, effective, complete, and accurate.”

Reed’s running a “low-budget, low-key campaign” as she focuses on her FinCom duties and her moderator training, she wrote in a campaign outline that she shared with The Bridge. 

“I’ve got to be ready to go,” she said, in case officials seek a special session to consider MCI-Acton prison rezoning before the 2027 Annual Town Meeting.

‘Better for government’

Former Town Moderator Eric Van Loon smiled and shook Magliozzi’s hand during his late-February campaign event. 

As Van Loon sat down, he said he wished Magliozzi had an opponent. 

That’s not to disparage Magliozzi, Reed, or Bader, Van Loon told The Bridge. It’s just “good for Acton” to have contested races. 

Competition can hone candidates and make them think harder about why they’re running, he said. These campaigns can prompt office seekers to get more specific with their messaging and can boost voter turnout.

Magliozzi said he’s already met with schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter. He’s still making the rounds with voters — and concedes that the process has tested his caffeine tolerance.

He said he had five coffeeshop meetings one recent day. By the last, he said, his hands were shaking. 

“I love coffee,” Magliozzi said. “But with all the meetings, I had the wisdom to switch to decaf tea for some.”