There was clearly an anti-incumbent backlash in the Attleboro School Committee election this week, which leads to the question: How would city councilors have fared if they had more competition.

School committee veterans such as Roberta Wuilleumier and Jackie Romaniecki took it on the chin from challengers who wracked up big numbers in the vote counts.

Challenger Raymond DiCiaccio led the field among at-large candidates, getting almost 750 more votes than Wuilleumier, the committee chairwoman.

In Ward 4, Romaniecki was overwhelmed by challenger Brenda Furtado, who got more than 70 percent of the vote, an impressive showing.

Challenger James Stors won an easy 2-1 victory over incumbent Shawn Moran in Ward 2. Voters sent a clear message that they want the views of parents considered more respectfully by the committee and the board should provide a check and balance on Superintendent Pia Durkin.

The challengers claimed the incumbents were out of touch, and veteran board member Helen Johnson seemed to re-enforce that belief when she said of voters:

"I don't know what they're looking for."

The city council race, however, had few challengers and incumbents may have been lucky in that.

There were only two challengers for five at-large council seats, and newcomer Richard Conti came in first, topping four incumbents.

Veteran at-large Councilor Kim Allard just barely survived, although she did less campaigning because she is recovering from leg surgery.

Most of the ward city councilors ran unopposed, so there is no way of knowing how they would have done with competition.

Even unopposed Mayor Kevin Dumas had a lot of blank ballots and 340 write-in votes against him.

There might have been something brewing on election day, but we will never fully know because there were so few choices on the ballot.

Some other notes from Tuesday's elections: Early word out of Attleboro City Hall on election night had challenger Mark Cooper winning the fifth and final at-large council spot, and incumbent Allard finishing out of the money. But, when the official numbers were released Allard had edged out Cooper by 63 votes. The misinformation reportedly caused quite a bit of heartache among the contenders.

Apparently perseverance pays off. Conti was the top voter-getter in the Attleboro at-large city council race and DiCiaccio led the at-large school committee ballot. Both men had run and lost in previous elections.

Elections across Massachusetts recorded several firsts, including: Lawrence electing the first Latino mayor in Massachusetts history, Newton electing its first African-American mayor and Holyoke electing its first woman mayor.

Working as an aide to U.S. Rep. James McGovern is increasingly becoming a stepping stone to elective office. Joseph O'Brien, the district manager for McGovern, was elected mayor of Worcester Tuesday. O'Brien is the latest in McGovern's farm team to move to higher office. Some of the others include former aide Tim Murray, who is now lieutenant governor, and former chief of staff Ed Augustus, who was elected state senator several years ago before giving up his seat. A number of people in Attleboro had urged McGovern aide Lisa Nelson to run for mayor, but she declined.

Every vote counts in Barnstable. A proposal to tweak the town's governing structure passed by one vote - 2,580 to 2,579.

JIM HAND covers politics for The Sun Chronicle. His commentaries appear in this space on Saturdays. Contact him at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.