Malden's D'Arcangelo says he'll probably run again
While David D'Arcangelo failed to win an at-large seat on the City Council on Tuesday, the fiery campaigner says he'll likely run again in two years.
"I'm prepared to raise and spend even more and campaign even harder," he said in a phone interview on Wednesday, fresh from a morning meeting at the Malden Rotary Club, where he's a member.
Three at-large seats were up for grabs on the Council. Newcomer Deborah Fallon - the daughter of a former mayor and sister of the current city solicitor - topped the ticket, followed by incumbents Craig Spadafora and Greg Lucey. D'Arcangelo missed the third seat by 600 votes.
He stepped down from the Planning Board - an appointed position - last year to prepare his campaign. He wouldn't rule out a return to the board on Wednesday.
"That's up to the mayor and up to the council," he said. "I'd be open to it. And contrary to popular belief, I get along pretty well with the administration and most of the councilors. So that's a possibility, we'll see how things shake out."
D'Arcangelo appeared last weekend on the national program "FOX and Friends," to voice opposition to the pay-as-you-throw fee. Mayor Richard Howard appeared on the same segment to support the program.
The fee survived a repeal effort, though voters backed the measure by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio. The city charter requires one third of all registered voters - about 9,500 - to vote in the majority for a ballot question to pass. About 5,700 voted for repeal on Tuesday.
Howard called the tally "a mixed message" on election night, noting that incumbent councilors who supported the fee won reelection, while some candidates calling for repeal lost.
In typical fashion, D'Arcangelo bluntly disagreed.
"What's mixed about it? It wasn't even close," he said.
D'Arcangelo - who collected 2,997 votes - took the glass-half-full approach in analyzing the results.
"I'm definitely staying around," he said. "Look at the positive side of it. 3,000 people wanted me in there, and I came up a little short."
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