Tom Stohlman, one of two Democratic Party election commissioners in Cambridge, was not re-appointed to his position at the expiration of his term by Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang, the city announced Thursday. Huang instead appointed Sara Rivera effective April 13.
Stohlman has been an election commissioner since June 2024, after Victoria Harris resigned and Huang appointed him to finish her four-year term. Two election commissioners each from the Democratic and Republican parties form the Board of Election Commissioners, which oversees elections in the city.
Stohlman, 71, said in an interview that not being re-appointed made him “really sad.” He added, “I’m sad because yesterday I sent out emails to all my poll workers checking on their availability” for the September primary election. Election commissioners are responsible for hiring and managing poll workers for Cambridge’s 33 precincts.
Stohlman, who was the first choice on a list submitted to Huang, noted “This is the first time in recent history that a sitting commissioner whose been ranked number one by his city committee has not been reappointed.”
In a statement, Huang said “We appreciated Tom’s contributions to the City and his work during the City’s elections. On behalf of Cambridge, I thank and value Tom for his service and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Elections tension
Stohlman differentiated himself from the three other commissioners by aggressively pursuing accountability for the November 2025 election night mis-reporting of the School Committee results. He also proposed a laundry list of work items for the commission to pursue in 2026.
The Elections Division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office conducted an investigation of the mis-reporting and a spokeswoman said the division’s response was “still being drafted and reviewed.”
Stohlman was clearly not a favorite of Cambridge Election Department executive director Tanya Ford. At the Feb. 11 meeting of the commission, in a “hot mic” moment while Stohlman was speaking about adhering to commission procedures, Ford said, “he’s ridiculous.”
Stohlman paused and asked who spoke.
“I don’t know,” Ford responded. But the Zoom audio was clear and the automated transcript removed any question that Ford’s microphone was the source of the interruption.
In another incident in January 2026, Stohlman encouraged his colleagues to work on restoring public confidence after the November error. Ford then stated Stohlman’s term was expiring soon and that the Democratic City Committee needed to submit nominees to the City Manager by March.
“It sucks,” said City Councillor Patty Nolan in an interview, of the decision not to renew Stohlman’s appointment.
With regard to the November election anomalies and the commission’s election night vote to release the erroneous results while lacking complete information, “I take my responsibilities very seriously,” Stohlman said.
“When I am asked to release election results, I try to listen to the advice of the staff, but we are given all the numbers; we look at them; if we have questions, we’re supposed to do something … I want to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and that’s why I’m pursuing it.”
He also praised his successor.
“I’m really happy for Sara. I think she’s going to be a great commissioner and she’s a solid candidate. It’s the greatest job in the city.”
Rivera, 61, said in a phone interview she has been a poll worker since age 18, and that she is a proud Canta-rican, a Cantabrigian with Puerto Rican heritage. She has served as a warden since 2001, currently for precinct 8-3 at the Martin Luther King school on Putnam Ave.
Rivera noted that “everything needs change” and “if there’s no change, there’s no improvement.” She would like to see more education about elections in Cambridge schools, including encouraging schools to hold mock elections.
Rivera said she was not familiar with the mis-reporting of the Nov. 2025 School Committee election results or the commission’s work plan with respect to it, but looked forward to learning more.
Former Democratic election commissioner Polxyane Cobb attended Thursday’s meeting of the Cambridge Democratic City Committee. In an interview afterward, she said “I don’t think it was necessarily a bad decision” to appoint Rivera. “I think the city manager is hunting for something different than we [at the CDCC] are hunting for.”
Republican commissioners Ethridge King and Charlie Marquardt declined to comment on Rivera’s appointment. Democratic commissioner Larry Ward could not be reached.
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