The field is set for the at-large Boston City Council race, with longtime Councilor Michael Flaherty’s decision to drop out eliminating the need for a primary election.
Eight candidates, including three incumbents and five challengers, are vying for four at-large seats, and will face off in the Nov. 7 general election.
A preliminary election, set for Sept. 12, would have determined the top eight at-large candidates for the November ballot, and is therefore no longer needed for that particular City Council race, according to the Boston Election Department.
Flaherty withdrew his name from consideration Wednesday, after serving for 20 non-consecutive years on the Council, a decision that surprised several of his would-be challengers who suddenly found themselves vying for an open seat.
“I’m still in shock over it. That just totally threw me for a loop yesterday,” Bridget Nee-Walsh, an at-large candidate and self-described supporter of Flaherty, told the Herald on Thursday.
Nee-Walsh, 44, is an iron worker with Local 7, and lives in South Boston. She said she has similar political leanings, right-of-center, as Flaherty, and is running to represent “blue collar working class people,” and be a “voice of reason.”
She is in favor of more vocational education options in the Boston Public Schools, and a better school system “across the board.”
Much like the four other challengers who spoke with the Herald on Thursday, Nee-Walsh spoke of the need to change the dysfunctional political climate on the City Council. Two incumbents expressed similar sentiments.
“I just feel like there’s a lot of arguing and finger-pointing going on, and you’re not really addressing the issues that need to be dealt with in the city,” Nee-Walsh said. “They’re just too busy choosing sides. There needs to be an adult in the room. Banging desks and dropping profanities isn’t the way to get anything solved.”
Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy, 53, a former BPS teacher who favors safer schools, streets and parks, and better constituent services, said the dysfunction may have resulted in fewer candidates who were willing to put their name on the ballot, for both at-large and district council seats.
In 2021, 17 candidates were vying for eight at-large spots on the November ballot, a notable difference from this year. Nee-Walsh made it past the primary two years ago, but finished near the bottom of the ticket in the general election.
Murphy joined the City Council in late 2021, after former city councilor Wu was elected mayor. She became a city councilor based on 2019 election results, where she placed sixth in the at-large race, but leapfrogged the fifth-place finisher, Alejandra St. Guillen, as she was the “next willing and able candidate” at the time, per the city charter, Murphy said.
In 2019, 15 candidates had been seeking an at-large seat in the preliminary.
“I know most people don’t spend their day glued to what we’re doing here on the Council, but many outbursts and many behaviors have been shared publicly enough that most people have a sense that this isn’t a place that they think would be good to work,” Murphy said.
It was distaste for the state of the City Council, however, that drove Clifton Braithwaite to run.
“I just don’t like the climate of what I’ve been seeing in the political realm, being an operative for so many years,” Braithwaite said. “I think we need more leadership at the City Council and people who really care genuinely across the board for all residents of Boston.”
The 55-year-old Mattapan resident is running for elected office for the first time, but sees himself as a frontrunner due to his political experience, which he said consists of working on campaigns for candidates such as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins.
Braithwaite supports a switch to an elected school committee, favors keeping the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury, and sees congestion in West Roxbury, where a so-called road diet is being implemented on Centre Street, as a major problem.
“I think we can all agree that it’s been a chaotic two years,” said Henry Santana, another candidate for at-large councilor, who said some of the issues that have cropped up on the Council over that time period have been “embarrassing.”
Santana, 27, said the three issues he’s focused on, housing, climate and public safety, have not been discussed much amid the drama that has played out in the Iannella Chamber, where the council meets — whether it be through recent allegations leveled against Councilors Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara, or the fraught redistricting and budget processes.
“We really need people to work together,” Santana said. “Right now we’re not seeing that, but I think I have a track record of being able to work with everyone and really pull up my sleeves and get to work.”
Santana, who lives in Dorchester, previously worked for Mayor Michelle Wu as director of civic organizing for the city, and field director for the campaign of former District 8 Councilor Kenzie Bok.
Two incumbents, Murphy, who lives in Dorchester, and Ruthzee Louijeune, a Hyde Park resident, agreed that the body’s political dynamics can be “stressful,” but said plenty of work is still getting done.
“It’s stressful to be in meetings, but for myself and my office, I know that we do an amazing job of delivering constituent services,” Murphy said, “and that is the majority of what city residents expect from the councilors.”
Louijeune added, “The voters and residents hired us, to represent them and to not be involved in petty fights or drama and back and forth. I really want to make sure we are focusing on collaboratively representing our 23 neighborhoods, addressing the big and small issues.”
Louijeune, 36, joined the City Council in January 2022. Prior to that, she worked as senior counsel for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign, and had her own legal practice, where she did a lot of pro bono work related to unemployment and affordable housing cases.
Housing investment, and making sure people can afford to live in Boston, is her top priority, followed by helping local businesses survive and “really thrive,” and ensuring that the city’s school system prepares students for life after graduation, Louijeune said.
The final at-large incumbent, Julia Mejia, did not respond to requests for comment.
Catherine Vitale, 33, and Shawn Nelson, 44, were both active protesters against the mayor and her prior vaccine mandate for city workers.
Vitale, of Dorchester, said she also spoke against the city’s outdoor dining restrictions on restaurants in the North End, and has been an advocate for children in schools and working people during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“I just felt like at a certain point, you can only advocate so much before you need to become somebody who can make changes and decisions,” Vitale said.
Nelson, of Dorchester, was involved in two publicized altercations last year, one at a rally for U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley at the Somerville Theatre, and another at City Hall during a protest against Councilor Arroyo, pertaining to a 2005 sexual assault allegation.
At the second, he was arrested, but maintains that his actions were self-defense. Both cases are in the court system, but he doesn’t think they will hurt his chances, since he “was not the aggressor, I was the victim.”
Vitale homeschools both of her children, due to dissatisfaction with the Boston Public Schools. She was homeless for a period of time, after losing both of her jobs during the pandemic, but lives in Section 8 housing now.
She favors better constituent services, saying that residents like herself often feel ignored by the city and councilors, citing the opposition to a street redesign and additional bike lanes planned in West Roxbury.
Nelson, who is focused on the city’s homelessness, mental health and drug problems, agreed, saying, “Our government is not working for the people.”
“They’re not really listening to us,” he said. “You go to City Hall. They block you. They ignore you.”
