By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

March 10th 2026

RICHMOND – About 33 Democrats and supporters gathered at the Richmond-Carolina fire station on Saturday evening for a fundraiser to support the reelection campaigns of Town Council members Mark Reynolds, Dan Madnick and Jim Palmisciano.

The “Cooking Up a Campaign” event was a comfort food cooking competition, with attendees sampling and voting for the best dishes in several comfort food categories: chili, macaroni and cheese, pizza, cookies and salads.

Tickets for the event, which raised about $4,000, were $25, or $15 for those contributing food to the cook-off.

Madnick said he wanted to organize an event that would support the council campaigns and offer a high-quality meal at the same time.

“We felt that doing a cook-off and having the tickets low would be more inclusive,” he said. “A lot of times, when you have these fundraising events, you go somewhere where it’s catered. Catering costs between $20, $30, $40, $50 per head, and if you want to have people donate and come to these events, they’re paying $50, $60, $70, and that’s not really very inclusive.”

Madnick added that the event was also a way to involve more people in the local political process.

“We know there are people in town that want to be involved politics, they want to be involved in town business, and they have no way, really, to come and talk with us. And this was a way to do that. Open it up to everyone,” he said.

Jim Palmisciano entered pizza and a salad in the cookoff.

“I think it’s a great turnout,” he said. “We have a lot of people supporting us and it’s a wonderful chance to reconnect with the community. As the weather starts to turn, coming out of the cold season, I think we’re going to see a lot more activities for our campaign as we officially declare in the June timeframe.”

Town Council Vice President Mark Reynolds, who contributed a batch of macaroni and cheese, said he was hoping to serve another term on the council. (Karen Reynolds, who represents Richmond on the Chariho School Committee, entered her chili in the cookoff.)

“I’m happy with how it’s gone to this point,” he said. “There’s more to be done and that’s why we want to be reelected, because we want to finish what we’ve started. To complete something in two years, it’s hard. So, we laid the foundation for some good initiatives, I think, and we want to keep it going for another term.”

State Rep. Megan Cotter, D-District 39, said she was feeling optimistic.

“I’m always optimistic. To a fault, I suppose,” she said. “This council’s done a lot of great things, and I’ve worked closely with them on a couple of things. We’ve delivered for the community and a lot more is going to come out over the next several weeks about the work that we’ve been doing.”

Chris Kona, who chairs the Richmond Democratic Town Committee, entered his mac and cheese and his daughter entered a batch of cookies.

Kona said he was encouraged by the number of residents attending the cook-off.

“I’m excited,” he said. “I think we’ve got a great team that’s coming into this. I love seeing this kind of showing and Town Council’s been doing some awesome work in the last year.”

The cooks whose dishes received the most votes were:

Chili: Karen Reynolds

Pizza: Jim Palmisciano

Salad: Karen Bellnier

Mac and cheese: Mark Reynolds

Cookies: Town Council President Samantha Wilcox

Each winner received a “golden” spoon and a $10 gift card to a local business.