WATERVILLE — While what is now a three-way race for mayor has won much of the attention for the city election in November, all of the city’s ward councilors whose terms expire in January are facing opposition in their campaigns for a new term.

Democrat Stephen Aucoin, Republican Nicholas Isgro and incumbent City Councilor Karen Rancourt-Thomas are running for mayor. Rancourt-Thomas, whose term as Ward 7 councilor expires next year, is running for mayor as an unenrolled candidate.

The Ward 2 contest for City Council has drawn the most interest, with four candidates signaling their intent to oppose incumbent councilor Edward Lachowicz. But in the same ward, where Lionel Cabana has decided not to seek another term on the board of education after 17 years on the board, there is only one candidate to succeed him.

In addition to selecting the successor to Mayor Karen Heck, who said 14 months ago that she would not seek a second term, voters will select three city councilors, three members of the Board of Education and two members of the Kennebec Water District, in addition to ward clerks and wardens.

While incumbent councilor Edward Lachowicz is running for another term in Ward 2, he is not seeking re-election as a Democrat.

Lachowicz said last month that he decided to leave the Democratic party because of a disagreement with its leaders. He is an unenrolled candidate for a new term. The Democratic caucus nominated Planning Board member Nathan White as its candidate.

Others entering the race in Ward 2 include Zachary Bickford, who was a councilor for three months last year when he was appointed by the city council to temporarily fill the seat left vacant when Michael Owens resigned after moving out of the ward. Lachowicz was elected to fill the final year of Owens’ term last November’s election and replaced Bickford on the council in January.

Bickford, a Republican, is seeking to rejoin the council.

Lachowicz and White were both unsuccessful candidates when the City Council voted to appoint Owens to fill the Ward 2 vacancy that resulted when George Myers Jr. resigned in the fall of 2012.

Patrick Roy, a Scott Paper retiree, is also a candidate for council from Ward 2.

Incumbent Ward 4 Councilor Erik Thomas is again the Democratic nominee. A political newcomer, Sydney Mayhew, was nominated by city Republicans at the party caucus on July 22. Mayhew is one of only two unenrolled candidates to file nomination papers.

In the race for council in Ward 6, Dana Bushee is seeking a new term as the Democratic nominee. Jibryne Karter, who was the first candidate to file nomination papers to appear on the ballot, is running as an unenrolled candidate. There is no Republican.

Incumbent Board of Education members Maryanne Bernier, Ward 4, and Elizabeth Bickford, Ward 6, are seeking re-election as Democrats. No Republican candidates were chosen at the party caucuses for those seats, and no unenrolled candidates have emerged.

Republicans also passed on nominating a candidate for the Ward 2 Board of Education seat that Cabana is leaving. Susan Reisert, a board member at the Mid-Maine Homeless shelter, was the choice of the Democratic caucus on Aug 3. No Republican was nominated, and no unenrolled candidate has signaled an interest in running for the school board seat.

Time is drawing short for other potential candidates. Candidates must file nomination signatures and a formal declaration of candidacy with the city clerk’s office before 4:30 p.m. Sept. 4. Candidates must have at least 25 but not more than 50 valid signatures from residents who are registered voters in the ward in which they seek the position.