Democratic Candidate Dan Wall won Tuesday night’s special election for the Ward 6 council seat, in the unofficial results released by the RI Board of Elections, which has been open since the resignation of the seat’s former occupant, Matt Reilly.

A total of four candidates put their hats in the ring for the seat, with Wall taking 50.82% of the vote, a total of 840 of 1,653 votes were for Wall as the count was completed and released as of 9 p.m. on Oct. 3. 

Ward 6 has been without an official representative since Rielly’s arrest for drug possession in March. His arrest, which prompted his resignation shortly after, left several other councilmembers pulling double duty to cover for his absence and provide a presence in Ward 6 while a special election was arranged to fill the seat.

During the months following the seat’s opening several candidates stepped forward including two independents, one Republican and a Democrat. Due to the political composition of the parties involved, no primary was deemed necessary by state law after all candidates officially declared their intentions to run by the end of July.

The Herald interviewed Wall in one of its June issues shortly after he announced his intention to run for the office. Since first declaring his candidacy, Wall  has run on a platform of faith in his love for the city as a 22-year resident and someone who served on the school committee for eight years.

“My family Found a home here in Cranston,” Wall said during a candidate forum held last month. “A home that we love. When my daughters went to school and as I got more and more involved with their education, that ultimately led me to running for school committee. I’m proud to say that I served the residents of Ward 6 for eight years on the school committee and four years as the committee’s chairman.”

Wall will add the duties of City Councilman to his work as the history department chair of the Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex for the Providence School Department.

A teacher in Providence for more than 25 years, Wall used his experience as a teacher and as a parent of two students who graduated from Cranston West  to help him in his time on the Cranston School Committee. He served 4 terms as a member of the School Committee, serving as chairman of the committee for his final two terms.

Now with both his daughters in college, his eldest a senior at Emory and his youngest a junior at Chapman, Wall was excited for a chance to represent Ward 6 on the city council.

With the belief that he worked well with both mayors in office during his time on the school committee and members of the committees on both sides of the aisle, Wall felt that he had a proven track record of putting the people and their needs ahead of personal affiliations and agendas that would make him stand out as a candidate. Which the people of Ward 6 seem to agree with.

Cranston Director of Elections Nick Lima said that with the election complete there is an election certification set, tentatively, for October 17 at 5:30 p.m., and any time after that the official swearing in Ceremony may be held.