By SANDY McGEE

CUMBERLAND — For the first time in decades, a Republican primary for town office will be held in this heavily-Democratic town.

In northern Cumberland’s District 5, the winner of the rare Republican primary will go on to compete against the winner of the Democratic primary in the November election.
Running in the Republican primary is Christine M. Avella of 200 Heroux Boulevard and Mark G. Dosdourian of 26 Alton Ave.
Avella, an office service manager for Rhode Island Housing in Providence, is a graduate of the National Graduate School in Falmouth, Mass., and a graduate of Johnson and Wales University. 
She has three adult children and four grandchildren.
Dosdourian, who is endorsed by the Republican Town Committee, is a project manager for a survey and septic system design company in Cumberland. He is a 1980 graduate of the University of Rhode Island.
He is secretary of the Republican Town Committee and a communicant of Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church in Providence.
Dosdourian has lived in town for 19 years with his wife, Deborah-Jane.
Facing off in the Democratic primary for the District 5 seat are Theodore R. Vecchio Jr. of 7 Camp St. and incumbent Mia A. Ackerman of 6 Shelter Lane.
Newcomer Vecchio is the vice president of operations for RALCO Equipment Co. in Cumberland and the business manager of the Dance Theater of Rhode Island in North Smithfield.
He is a 1993 graduate of Cumberland High School and a former coach for the Cumberland Colts Youth Football. He and his wife, Jennifer, are the parents of three sons and a daughter.
Ackerman, who is running for her second term in office, is a self-employed real-estate title examiner and a former member of the town Juvenile Hearing Board. She is a 1983 graduate of W.C. Mepham High School in Bellmore, N.Y., and a graduate of the State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton.
Ackerman is a volunteer for the Cumberland Land Trust, the Friends of Franklin Farm and the Cumberland Hill Elementary and North Cumberland Middle School PTOs. She is also a member of the Blackstone River Watershed Council.
She lives in town with her husband, Barry, and their two children.

There will be a town-wide  Democratic primary for two at-large seats.
Town Council, at-large:
Two incumbents, James T. Higgins of 25 Rhode Island Ave. and Bruce A. Lemois of 60 Mohawk St., and newcomer, James N. McLaughlin of 15 Garden St., are vying for two at-large seats on the Town Council.
Higgins, council president for the past two terms, is a lawyer and former member of the Cumberland School Committee. He is a graduate of Providence College, a trustee of the Boys and Girls Club of Cumberland and Lincoln and a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Democratic Town Committee.
Lemois, past president of the Berkeley Fire District, is employed as an operations manager for ASI Inc. in East Providence. He has attended Northeastern University in Boston.
McLaughlin, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War, is a retired auto mechanic. He is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a grand knight of the Knights of Columbus.
 
District 1:
Newcomer Thomas Paul Tougas of 46 Harrison St. is running against incumbent Antonio J. Albuquerque of 46 Howe St. for District 1.
Tougas, a warehouse manager for Central Paper in Pawtucket, is a 1985 graduate of the William M. Davies Career and Technical School in Lincoln. He is a member of the Elks Lodge in Warwick and the Knights of Columbus, St. Thomas Council, in Cumberland. He resides in town with his wife, Rhonda, and their three sons.
Albuquerque, the owner of the Third Base Bar and Sports Grill on High Street, is seeking his second term. He is a 1970 graduate of Central Falls High School. He has also served as president of Club Juventude Lusitana, as a former member of the town Planning Board and as an organizer for several fundraisers, including the Run for Kids benefit race and the Phantom Farms Road Race.

District 3:
Incumbent Kelley Nickson-Morris of 60 Country Hill Road is running for re-election against two newcomers, James C. Hartke of 9 Cargill Road and Paul Simoes of 21 Barberry Hill Road. 
Morris, a lawyer for the Providence law firm of Moses and Afonso, is the vice chair of the Board of Licensing and former member and chair of the Cumberland Zoning Board of Appeals.
She is a graduate of Cumberland High School, Rhode Island College and the Suffolk University School of Law. She lives in town with her husband and their daughter.
Hartke is a self-employed information technology consultant. He is a graduate of Anderson High School in Cincinnati, Ohio; Bowling Green State University in Ohio; and a graduate of the Keller Graduate School of Management in Atlanta, Ga. 
He and his wife are the parents of two teenage children.
Simoes is the owner of a liquor distribution business, Simoes Imports, in Cumberland. He attended Cumberland public schools before graduating from St. Ray’s Academy in Pawtucket. He is also a graduate of Providence College and the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.
A lifelong resident of Cumberland, Simoes resides in town with his wife.

Democratic primary voters Tuesday will also decide the winner of a rematch between current Mayor Daniel J. McKee and former Mayor David S. Iwuc (higlighted in an article in Friday’s edition of The Call). Since there is no Republican or independent opponent declared in the mayor’s race, the primary will essentially decide the outcome of the general election as well.