BROCKTON - The 2025 mayoral election in Brockton, Massachusetts, was destined for the history books long before the first ballot was cast. In a city that has transformed from a white working-class manufacturing hub into a "majority-minority" municipality, the contest between Moises Rodrigues and Jean Bradley Derenoncourt was a referendum on the future of the new Brockton. For months, the city remained suspended in a state of high tension—caught between a razor-thin margin, allegations of coercion, and a high-stakes legal battle. Then, on a Tuesday afternoon in mid-January, the fever broke as abruptly as it had begun.
The Razor-Thin Election On November 4, 2025, the city went to the polls with a recorded turnout of approximately 19 percent. In such a low-turnout environment, every small bloc of voters became decisive. When the initial results were certified, the margin was breathtakingly narrow: Moises Rodrigues led by just 260 votes out of over 13,000 cast.
The Three-Day Recount Invoking his statutory right, Derenoncourt petitioned for a city-wide recount. Conducted in mid-December at the Shaw’s Center, the process was rigorous. Teams of tellers manually tallied over 13,000 ballots under the watchful eyes of observers. Fred McDermott, chairman of the election commission, noted that while some members of the council or school committee might change in such recounts, the primary goal was to ensure the “intent of the voter” was true.
The results, released at City Hall, confirmed the accuracy of the machines but did little to ease tensions. The recount showed that Rodrigues’ lead shrank by only a single vote, leaving him with a 259-vote margin of victory. Despite the certification, Derenoncourt maintained that the process revealed “serious and widespread irregularities”.
Allegations of Coercion and Fraud The dispute quickly shifted from a matter of mathematics to one of legality. On Christmas Eve, Derenoncourt filed a lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court alleging systemic voter coercion and absentee ballot fraud. The most inflammatory claim involved agents of the Rodrigues campaign—specifically the Mayor-elect’s wife, Maria Lobo-Rodrigues—allegedly intercepting elderly Cape Verdean voters at polling places to instruct them on how to vote.
Derenoncourt’s legal team further alleged:
• Handwriting Anomalies: “Dozens if not hundreds” of mail-in ballots appeared to have the same handwriting.
• Signature Issues: Absentee ballots were allegedly counted without required signatures or with signatures that did not match voter registration cards.
• Mishandling: Claims that ballots were found unsealed or in “unsecured places” like the basement of West Middle School.
Notably, Election Director Cynthia Hogan later explained that “missing” ballots were actually the result of transcription errors by election workers. However, a major point of contention remains the surveillance video from polling locations. Despite a December 11 order from the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office, the city had not complied with requests to release the footage as of early January.
The Judicial Ruling and the Inauguration In the days leading up to the inauguration, Derenoncourt’s team filed for a preliminary injunction to halt the ceremony and requested a change of venue, arguing that Rodrigues held “undue influence” over the local court system. On January 2, 2026, Judge Daniel J. O’Shea rejected both requests. The judge ruled that the “balance of harms” favored an orderly transfer of power, stating that delaying the inauguration would result in a “delay of leadership authority” that outweighed the potential harm to the plaintiff.
On Monday, January 5, 2026, Moises Rodrigues was sworn in as Brockton’s first elected Black mayor. In his address, he pledged to make Brockton a “city of one people” and a welcoming environment for all. The lawsuit remained active, with a status hearing set for January 14 to determine the trial schedule.
The Sudden Withdrawal The climax of the legal drama was expected to play out over months of discovery and witness testimony. Instead, it ended in minutes. On January 14, at the scheduled status hearing, Derenoncourt’s attorney, Mary LaCivita, stunned the courtroom by announcing the withdrawal of the lawsuit.
Reading a statement from the former candidate, LaCivita made it clear that this was a strategic retreat, not a concession of error. “While I firmly believe that the will of the voters was compromised by the unethical and illegal behavior that transpired in this election,” the statement read, “I have decided... that further legal action may exacerbate our already fractured city”.
Derenoncourt cited the “substantial financial burdens” the litigation would place on taxpayers and the “protracted timeline” of a trial as his primary reasons for stepping down. The withdrawal effectively solidified the election results, ensuring there would be no replay of the disputed 1981 mayoral election that once dragged on for months.
The Aftermath The reaction in the courtroom was one of relief and vindication for the administration. “This will end it,” Judge O’Shea remarked from the bench.
Rodrigues’ attorney, Mark Lawton, who had previously dismissed the suit as “frivolous,” called the withdrawal the “inevitable result.” He noted that while Mayor Rodrigues was never worried about the outcome, he was “pleased it’s one less thing on his plate”.
A City Moves Forward, Questions Remain Brockton now moves forward with a fully certified administration. However, the abrupt end to the legal process leaves the central allegations adjudicated by exhaustion rather than evidence. The surveillance tapes were never released, and the claims of “coercion” and “handwriting matches” will never be tested under cross-examination.
Rodrigues has secured his mandate, surviving both the ballot box and the docket. Yet, Derenoncourt’s parting words—warning of “significantly flawed and ethically questionable behavior”—linger in the public record. The 2025 election is over, but the work of healing the “fractured city” that both candidates acknowledged has only just begun.
Sources include: the Brockton Enterprise, the City of Brockton, WATD, GBH, WCVB, and AI Deep Research tools.
