WINSLOW — The race for the District 4 seat on the Winslow Town Council is heating up after a sitting councilor suddenly withdrew from the election.

Incumbent Councilor Ray Caron was slated to run against resident Doris Labranche in the Nov. 5 election, but dropped his reelection bid Sept. 10 and resigned from his seat, effective immediately.

Caron’s announcement came five days after the window closed for residents to declare their candidacy, leaving Labranche running unopposed.

Days later, resident Kyla Mihalovits announced her intention to mount a write-in campaign for Caron’s seat in a post to the Winslow ME Community Builders Facebook group she moderates.

Labranche and Mihalovits are seeking their first terms in municipal office.

District 4 includes the area of Winslow that is north of Clinton Avenue and south of Simpson Avenue. A complete list of streets in each municipal voting district can be found on the town of Winslow website.

In an email interview and social media posts last week, Labranche said that if elected, reining in municipal spending and supporting local law enforcement would be among her top priorities.

“I understand having to live on a budget and the need to be frugal,” Labranche wrote in a Facebook post. “I have a special place in my heart for law enforcement and first responders as my son is an Army veteran and my dad a Navy veteran.”

Labranche said she has lived in Winslow for more than 30 years and volunteered with many local organizations, including the Bread of Life’s Veterans Shelter in Augusta and the Waterville Boys & Girls Club.

Asked how she plans to stem political discord in Winslow, Labranche said she will run a positive campaign and, if elected, increase transparency in municipal government.

“The residents of District 4 have informed me that they are tired of the drama and the negativity. They want true transparency and collaboration,” Labranche wrote in an email.

Mihalovits, the write-in candidate, said last week she did not plan to run for Town Council until Caron’s sudden resignation last week.

“This was not in my plans for this fall, but sometimes we need to meet the moment,” she said. “Write-in campaigns are difficult, and we may lose, but District 4 should have a choice on their voice in the Town Office.”

Mihalovits said her campaign is centered on completing Winslow’s long-term infrastructure projects that have dragged on in recent years, and bringing civility to town politics in a time of turmoil.

“Municipal government should be about things like schools, budgeting, infrastructure projects, paving roads, those projects,” Mihalovits said. “We need an alternative to the social media that seems to have sort of taken over our town.”

The last year has been contentious among Winslow councilors. In recent months, a councilor requested a protection order against the town manager, while two others may have violated privacy laws by seeking medical information about a fellow councilor recovering from a coma. Councilors have convened five closed-door executive session meetings since August to discuss personnel matters and consult with legal counsel.

Mihalovits said her aim is to help cool Winslow’s political temperature through increased community outreach and events.

“I think it’s going to take more than a few months of work, but there are things we can do to as a community to get people off of Facebook, where a lot of this controversy has happened, and back into the community,” she said.

Labranche’s name will be the only one printed on the Winslow ballots for the District 4 race, Town Clerk Audra Fleury said, because Caron’s name was removed after his late resignation.

While Maine law requires write-in candidates to formally declare their intent to run, there is no such requirement in Winslow, Fleury said.

Mihalovits had previously taken out paperwork to run for the Winslow Public Library board of trustees. Mihalovits’ name was removed from that race because she cannot occupy both seats at the same time, according to Fleury.