In a hard fought race for the District 1 City Council seat, East Boston resident Lydia Edwards took the win over Stephen Passacantilli of the North End. Unofficial results show that Edwards won by 730 votes, taking 53% of the votes in the district-wide race where ~13,000 total voted. District 1 includes Charlestown, East Boston and the North End neighborhoods.
As a new councilor, Edwards will fill the seat being vacated by Sal LaMattina who announced that he was not running for reelection. When her term starts in January 2018, she will be one of 5 women of color on the 13-seat Boston City Council.
Marty Walsh won re-election as Mayor of Boston with 65% of the citywide vote over Tito Jackson. For District 2 City Council, Ed Flynn won over Mike Kelley which includes South Boston, South End and parts of Downtown. Incumbent Josh Zakim was also re-elected to represent Beacon Hill, Back Bay and Kenmore. See Universal Hub for more local election results.
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LydiaMEdwards Thank you to all of our supporters who made tonight’s victory in East Boston, Charlestown, and the North End possible. I couldn’t have done this without you. #bospoli Nov 7, 2017 at 9:02 PM |
The majority of East Boston voters supported their home neighborhood candidate in Lydia Edwards. Eastie counts approximately 50% of the district’s voters. Charlestown also gave its majority support to Edwards. In his home precincts of Boston’s North End, Passacantilli took 64% of the vote, down from 70% in the September preliminary election.
Edwards win marks a turn from the September 2017 preliminary election where Passacantilli won the district by 77 votes in a three-way race before East Boston resident Margaret Farmer was eliminated. Farmer endorsed Edwards after the preliminary race and added to the support of former Charlestown candidate Jack Kelly. In addition, headline endorsements came in for Edwards from Attorney General Maura Healy, State Senator Joseph Boncore, State Rep. Adrian Madaro of East Boston; State Senator Linda Dorcena Dorry, State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, State Rep. Russell Holmes; City Councilor Andrea Campbell, the Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund, and the Working Families Party.
Photos from District 1 polling stations:
Lydia Edwards is an East Boston resident and public interest attorney most recently working at City Hall as deputy director of the Boston Office of Housing Stability. Edwards has spent her career dedicated to helping immigrants and domestic workers. She is a graduate of American University School of Law, and received an LLM from Boston University School of Law. Lydia lives with her husband, electrician and small business owner Rogerio Mauriz, in East Boston.
Stephen Passacantilli is a North End resident who worked most recently at City Hall as Director of Operations for the Boston Transportation Department and was formerly an aide to both Mayor Marty Walsh and Councilor LaMattina. Passacantilli also served several years as President of the North End / Waterfront Neighborhood Council (NEWNC). His family has a storied history of public service, representing the North End at City Hall and the State House. Stephen is a graduate of Suffolk University and lives with his wife Renee Frechette and their two children, in Boston’s North End.
More Boston Election Results
In the race for Mayor of Boston, incumbent Martin J. Walsh took 65% of the vote, handily beating challenger Tito Jackson.
In District 2, Ed Flynn, won over Mike Kelley. Flynn is the son of former Mayor Ray Flynn and will represent South Boston, South End, Chinatown and parts of Downtown.
In District 7, Kim Janey beat Rufus Faulk to represent Roxbury.
In District 8, incumbent Josh Zakim handily won over challenger Karen Mobilia for the district covering Beacon Hill, Back Bay and Fenway.
In District 9, incumbent Mark Ciommo easily took out challenger Brandon Bowser for Allston/Brighton.
For City Councilor-at-Large, there were eight candidates vying for the four citywide seats. The four incumbents were re-elected as follows:
Incumbents Gain Re-election:
Michelle Wu (24%)
Ayanna Pressley (22%)
Michael Flaherty (19%)
Annissa Essabi-George (17%)
Challengers:
Althea Garrison (7%)
Domingos Darosa (4%)
William King (3%)
Pat Payaso (2%)
Way to go, Lydia! You worked hard and now it is your time. I know you will be a great city councilor.