Globe: Lowell is an immigrant city on the precipice of change

By Stephanie Ebbert Globe Staff | The Boston Globe

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It remains to be seen how soon the new election format will change the council’s diversity. One of the two Cambodian-Americans already on the council, Vesna Nuon, has joined the crowded competition to hold an at-large seat. In one of the new districts crafted with Asian and Latino majorities, the better-known candidate is a white neighborhood activist, Dave Ouellette. The other is Colombian-born pastor Juan Castaneda, who unsuccessfully ran at-large in 2019. Two Black candidates also have emerged: Bobby Tugbiyele, who founded a recruiting firm, is running at-large, while labor leader Corey Robinson is running in the Centralville district.

Van, the plaintiff-candidate, is sanguine about his odds. Even if he doesn’t win, he hopes that through his lawsuit and his candidacy, he is helping to nudge the city to become a more egalitarian place.

“That’s what I hope from the bottom of my heart — that this lawsuit is in the history books,” Van said. “You have to go with change.”