The municipal elections for the nine Boston City Council districts and four at-large positions will take place Nov. 7. After redistricting passed a contentious city council vote in 2022, the newly mapped districts will be in play for the upcoming election. The sitting Boston City Council has faced chaos over the past two years, as Councilor Kendra Lara faced criminal charges after crashing an uninsured car, and Councilor Ricardo Arroyo was fined for a conflict of interest case and faced sexual assault allegations. Elected candidates will look to steer a controversial city council that has dealt with a handful of scandals over the past year back on course. Candidates for the new council will try to re-establish trust with the city and tackle issues like housing affordability, improved public education, transportation and constituent services.
DISTRICT 1: Charlestown, East Boston, North End
The incumbent District 1 City Councilor, Gabriela “Gigi” Coletta, a Democratic former chief of staff to Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards, runs unopposed in the upcoming election. In her first year on the council, she has taken on issues like housing affordability, public education policy and climate change’s effect on Boston coastlines. Coletta says she will continue to work to make Boston a welcoming city for immigrants. “As City Councilor, I will always be a strong advocate for our undocumented immigrant neighbors in this district and across the Commonwealth,” Coletta’s campaign website reads. According to the website, she plans to hold “constituent walks,” where she walks the streets of District 1 to assess the quality of the neighborhoods, ensuring she makes time for the residents she serves.
DISTRICT 2: Downtown, South Boston, South End, Chinatown, Fort Point, Bay Village, parts of Beacon Hill and Back Bay
The current District 2 City Councilor and president of the Boston City Council, Edward Flynn, has served on the council since 2017. Flynn runs unopposed in this year’s election. The often-described centrist has resided in Boston his entire life. He told Boston.com that he prioritizes affordable housing and has supported housing stability policies throughout his time on the council. According to his campaign website, Flynn values public safety, promoting community policing efforts and reliable public transportation as the committee chair for the public safety and criminal justice committee. To address the recent chaos and actions of certain city council members, Flynn has “organized a series of trainings with colleagues and staff focusing on ethics and civility and proposed an Anti-Bullying Policy for the City Council,” he told Boston.com.
DISTRICT 3: Dorchester, South Boston, South End
Hailing from Dorchester, John FitzGerald has spent the past 17 years working at Boston City Hall as deputy director of real estate operations for the Boston Planning & Development Agency. Fitzgerald is now running to represent District 3. The “proud Democrat” told Boston.com that his top priorities are affordable housing and quality public education. FitzGerald plans to fight for affordable housing by creating sustainable pathways to homeownership, developing new housing to combat the housing shortage and supporting existing homeowners. According to his campaign website, he wants to invest in Boston Public Schools and ensure parents are involved in their childrens’ education. “I think it [Boston] is the best city to grow up in and to raise a family in and I want to keep it that way. Every decision I make on that Council will be “does this help families stay in the city?” FitzGerald told The News. Read more from FitzGerald’s interview with The News here.
Joel Richards, endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, calls for “A Boston for All” in his campaign for District 3 city councilor. As a Boston public school teacher, Richards wants to achieve equitable public education in Boston. According to his campaign website, he also prioritizes affordable housing; he plans to work with all levels of government to tackle the housing issue. “I would regain the trust of Bostonians by doing the work,” the first-generation Jamaican-American told Boston.com.
DISTRICT 4: Mattapan, Dorchester and parts of Jamaica Plain and Roslindale
Running unopposed in the upcoming election, after two years on the council, Brian Worrell will continue his work as District 4 city councilor. He was raised in Boston by parents that migrated from Jamaica and Barbados. While serving as city councilor, his office launched the “Black & Brown Economic Empowerment Agenda,” an initiative that gives people of color in Boston economic and educational opportunities. He began tackling affordable housing by directing funding toward a homeownership voucher program. “I will continue to lead in a way that centers those duties every day and work to collaborate with colleagues on the Council and in the Mayor’s office to move our city forward,” Worrell said in an interview with Boston.com.
DISTRICT 5: Hyde Park, Mattapan, Readville, Roslindale.
“Putting people first in District 5,” Enrique Pepén’s campaign website reads. Pepén previously served as the executive director of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s Office of Neighborhood Services, representing the value he holds for communities in Boston. Wu has since endorsed Pepén’s campaign. According to his campaign website, he believes in a holistic solution to public safety through support programs for youth offenders, community-led school programming and intervention groups for at-risk populations. Pepén also says he plans to address housing affordability: “Diversity makes our district special, with people of different backgrounds and means coming together in a community. That is why my housing is centered on people — not developers or multimillionaire investors,” Pepén told Boston.com.
Jose Ruiz was born in Puerto Rico but settled in Boston where he attended BPS and completed his education at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. According to his campaign website, Ruiz’s connection to the Latinx community influenced the trajectory of his life. Growing up, he lacked trust in law enforcement, leading him to enter the police academy as the only Latino in his class. On his “Meet Jose” page, Ruiz speaks about how he then protected the community as a law enforcement officer, and now seeks to continue serving the city as the District 5 City Councilor. In an interview with Boston.com, the self-proclaimed Democrat said “My years of experience have given me not only an understanding of the issues facing our community but also taught me the importance of listening to the concerns of residents and working collaboratively to find effective solutions.”
DISTRICT 6: West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale.
Born and raised in Boston, William King has been invested in his community’s well-being from a young age. He began by volunteering for local organizations and eventually joined his local neighborhood civic association. According to his website, he hopes to bring his commitment to the community as the District 6 city councilor. His campaign outlines his vision for Boston: After working within the BPS system as a technology specialist, King sees the need for investing in education. He plans to do so through investing in early childhood education opportunities, school facilities and modernizing classrooms using new technologies. King is also looking to strengthen community-policing efforts in his district. “Violence is an epidemic, one that will never be solved through enforcement alone but must also be addressed by looking at the root causes, such as poverty, lack of educational opportunities, and limited access to mental health services, which we must work to deal with head-on,” King told Boston.com.
“Let’s get things done for District 6,” Ben Weber’s campaign website reads. As a workers’ rights lawyer he plans to promote policies to protect Boston’s workers. The progressive candidate has children in the BPS system, and according to his campaign website, he plans to advocate the need for a higher-quality education system and is committed to constituency services. Weber promises to make time for hearing residents’ voices during weekly in-person office hours where Bostonians can come speak to him directly. “I want to advocate to make Boston a more affordable, healthier place to live for all District 6 residents,” Weber told The News. Read more from Weber’s interview with The News here.
DISTRICT 7: Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway, part of the South End.
The incumbent District 7 City Councilor, Tania Fernandes Anderson, has served on the council for two years and is one of the more progressive members in the body. She immigrated to Roxbury from Cape Verde at 10 years old and is the first African immigrant and Muslim-American to serve on the Boston City Council. According to her page on Boston.gov, Anderson values equitable mental health services. She founded Noah’s Advocate, a nonprofit for underrepresented communities and continues to support her community through work with at-risk youth through the arts.
The 83-year-old independent candidate, and former at-large city council member, hopes to win the District 7 City Council seat. While many city council candidates spoke about the need to expand mental health care, in an interview with Boston.com, Garrison said Boston has enough mental health care facilities and that those in need of help just need to be educated on locating these facilities. She also supports the right to bear arms: “I will not hamstring our law-abiding citizens or support any more gun control because of a few bad apples who break our laws and commit vicious crimes with mostly stolen guns,” Garrison said in an interview with Boston.com. When Boston.com asked about improving roads and public transit, she encouraged residents to complain when service is unsatisfactory.
DISTRICT 8: Fenway, Back Bay, Beacon Hill
The incumbent District 8 City Councilor, Sharon Durkan has been on the city council for just three months following a special municipal election in July, and hopes to continue serving her community after the upcoming election. According to Durkan’s campaign website, she values accessible housing, mental health care and open space within the community. “Housing is a human right; no one should struggle to find a safe, stable place to call home,” she told Boston.com. The “Sharon’s Story” page on her website explains that she has been dedicated to environmental sustainability since high school when she led a petition that helped found her school’s first recycling program. She supports small businesses because her experience as a small business owner showed her the hard work that goes into running them.
“How we build a better Boston together,” Montez Haywood’s campaign website for the District 8 City Council election reads. Haywood has worked as a prosecutor, focusing on criminal violence in the city. According to his campaign website, he opposes the plan to cut the Boston Police Department budget and instead wants to recruit more officers and increase training. He hopes to rebuild the trust between law enforcement and the community through “walking beats,” where he walks through the district to experience any neighborhood issues himself, according to his website. He hopes to take people off the streets by purchasing a cruise ship to treat those with mental illnesses and substance abuse. “Elected officials have a responsibility to always act with honesty and integrity and to be fully accountable to those they serve. I pledge to be open and honest with my constituents, to listen to your concerns and ideas, and to always act in the best interests of our community,” Haywood told The News.
DISTRICT 9: Allston-Brighton
Incumbent District 9 City Councilor Liz Breadon is running for reelection with the campaign slogan “Always forward.” The Democratic candidate was first elected in 2019 and was the first openly LGBTQ+ woman elected to the Boston City Council. She is a community activist and environmentalist who highlighted housing and transportation as her top two priorities in an interview with Boston.com. “Our collective hope, I believe, is to find a new dynamic that supports productive work,” she told Boston.com. During her time on the City Council she has increased the number of affordable housing units in her district, and she continues to support policy and strategy that promotes affordable home ownership and rent. She also promotes the need for a reliable, efficient and affordable public transportation system.
“Of all the people who live in our neighborhood, the ones in power only listen to a select few. I’m running to change that,” Jacob deBlecourt’s campaign website reads. The left-leaning candidate worked as the director of public policy and communications for Boston City Councilor At-Large Julia Mejia, where he helped connect constituents with policymakers, so policy could be representative of the people and understandable for the people. According to his campaign website, his policy values include affordable housing, fighting for marginalized communities like the queer community that he is part of, promoting arts and culture and an entire section that he calls his “Rat Platform,” or “Ratform,” for short. Allston/Brighton has had a rat problem for years and deBlecourt plans to address it in a sustainable manner.
News correspondent Olivia Woodard contributed to this coverage.
