PITTSFIELD – Area voters will have an abundance of new choices on Election Day, due to redistricting, term limits and the death of a veteran commissioner.

On Nov. 2, Pittsfield voters will be selecting three county and legislative representatives, deciding races for two Town Council seats, and choosing three school board directors – all from a field of 13 candidates.

Many of those hopeful candidates will appear tonight at the Pittsfield ARTS Club annual Candidates’ Night, to be held at 6 p.m. at the town office council chambers.

Pittsfield has been redistricted to join Waterville, Winslow, Benton, Albion, Clinton, Detroit and Unity Township in state Senate District 25.

District 25 incumbent Kenneth Gagnon, D-Waterville, is being challenged by Republican Bruce Stafford of Winslow.

Gagnon has served two years in the House and two in the Senate, lastly as assistant majority leader. He is married and has three daughters.

Gagnon works at Colby College and generally receives high marks from senior citizen groups for his success at providing better access to prescription drugs and promoting veterans’ issues.

Stafford, a native of Pittsfield, owns his own business, is married and has two sons. His campaign material lists among his priorities controlling government spending and requiring the state to meet its commitment to funding education.

Also on the state level, former Pittsfield Mayor John Ring, 63, is challenging Stacey Fitts, also of Pittsfield, for the state House District 29 seat. That district includes Pittsfield, Detroit and Clinton and was formerly filled by Bernard “Barney” McGowan, who termed out.

Ring served three years on the Town Council, one year as mayor, is a chaplain and involved with local senior citizens and hospice. “I have a varied past, from clergyman to paperworker to police officer to mayor of Pittsfield,” said the Democrat. “These experiences have prepared me to be a calming voice in Augusta.”

Fitts, a former Pittsfield planning board member and chairman of the local Republican committee, is 42, married with two children and plant manager of the Benton Falls Hydroelectric Station.

Fitts said, “We clearly need to reduce the size of our government, create a business climate that supports existing businesses, regulate less and educate youth to prepare them for job opportunities.”

On the county level, two former state legislators are vying for the county commissioner seat of the late Joseph Bowman.

Pittsfield’s Sumner “Bud” Jones, a Republican, is challenging Skowhegan’s Paul Hatch, a Democrat.

Jones, 77, is married and has seven children. He served for 15 years as a local selectman and council member, five of those as mayor of Pittsfield. He also served six years in the Legislature.

“The county has a $7 million budget and a huge area, from the Canadian border to Fairfield. My experience will serve me well,” said Jones.

Hatch just finished two terms in the Legislature. He was recently appointed to fill Bowman’s term until the end of the year. “I am pretty well acquainted with the issues here,” he said. “I think I could do a good job.”

District 3 Town Councilor Robert Stackhouse, who has served for six years, is being challenged by Brian Philbrick.

Stackhouse said Sunday that during his tenure he has seen many positive changes. “Things are really starting to move in Pittsfield,” he said. “There are expanding businesses, new businesses. I’d like to work to see that growth continue.”

Stackhouse is married, has a son and works as an operating room technician at Sebasticook Valley Hospital.

Philbrick did not respond to requests for information about his candidacy.

There is a second race brewing for a councilor-at-large position, currently filled by Shawn Bickford. Christinalyn Cote is on the ballot and Kevin Taylor is mounting a write-in campaign.

Cote, 32, has extensive experience as a member of the Governor’s Interagency Task Force on Homelessness and Housing Opportunities, the Maine Coalition for the Homeless, New Beginnings youth program in Lewiston, and the board of directors of the Family Violence Project in Augusta.

“I am running to represent the families in town, the average working-class person,” Cote said Sunday.

Cote is the mother of three children and is a licensed social worker with the state of Maine.

Taylor, 35, currently serves on the town’s planning board. He has two sons and co-owns Super Rooter.

If elected, Taylor said he will help protect the school budget while promoting business growth in Pittsfield. He would help eliminate “wasteful spending” and encourage more public participation in the council activities.

There is no race in SAD 53, as three seats are open and three people are vying for those positions.

Robert Downs, 53, current board chairman, is running for his fourth three-year term. He also has served nine years as a town councilor. He is married with two children and is the director of Harvard Pilgrim Health care in Maine.

Downs said, “I will continue to balance the needs of the school system with the ability of our town to financially support the system.”

Karynn Chateauneuf, 43, previously served as Burnham’s SAD 53 representative for 31/2 years as Karynn MacDonald. She has two children and is a registered nurse in the dialysis unit of MaineGeneral Medical Center in Waterville.

Chateauneuf said that as a former school board member, she would bring experience to the position.

Mark LaGross, 40, who is running as a write-in candidate, is married with two daughters and is a civil engineer. “I feel my scruples and morals are acceptable to this community and I would like to get more involved where my children go to school,” said LaGross.

The public is invited to meet and hear the candidates at tonight’s event. Refreshments will be served.