After weeks of speculation, Ruthzee Louijeune’s November claim that she had the votes to become the next Boston City Council president turned out to be correct, as her colleagues selected her to lead the body in the first meeting of the new year.
While multiple councilors were jockeying for the position, the final vote of 13-0 on Monday was unanimous, with at-Large Councilor Louijeune garnering overwhelming support to succeed Ed Flynn as the next council president.
Louijeune was nominated by Councilor Gabriela Coletta, and officially took control of the meeting from Liz Breadon, who as the oldest city councilor, presided over the beginning, as Flynn’s term ended Dec. 31.
“I am just overcome with emotion, with gratitude,” Louijeune said after the New Year’s Day vote. “We have real work to do, and I’m so excited to do it alongside each and every one of you.”
In her speech, she noted that she wasn’t the first Black woman to lead the Council, while thanking now-Attorney General Andrea Campbell and former Acting Mayor Kim Janey for “blazing the trail” for her.
She also spoke of how she rejects the “one-sum mentality,” or the notion that for one group to succeed, another has to lose, and the divisive talk of old vs. new Boston, saying that she supports a “true” Boston — an “inclusive” one that embraces all ethnicities, orientations and cultures.
Louijeune, who topped the ticket in the November election, will be the third Black person to lead the Council. She was sworn into her second term prior to the afternoon vote, and will lead the 13-member body for two years, per term limits set by the city charter.
An attorney, Louijeune worked as senior legal counsel for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign and had started her own legal and advocacy business prior to joining the City Council in January 2021.
She had first stated in November that she had the seven votes necessary to become the next council president.
According to City Hall sources, three other council members, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy and Brian Worrell, who agreed to become the body’s vice president, were vying for the presidency in recent weeks or months.
During nominations, Flynn put Mejia’s name forward as a council president candidate on Monday, but Mejia “respectfully” declined, saying that she wanted the body to use the vote to come together, “regardless of our political differences.”
While the outgoing president nominated Mejia, he ultimately voted for Louijeune, who was gracious in her acceptance speech, thanking Flynn for his tenure leading the body, and presenting him with flowers.
As Council president, Louijeune will be tasked with making key decisions on committee assignments, leading council proceedings, and setting a culture for the body as a whole, according to a prior statement from her office.
Louijeune, the first Haitian-American to serve on the City Council, was sworn in alongside her colleagues at Faneuil Hall earlier on Monday, which along with New Year’s, coincided with Haitian Independence Day, as noted by Louijeune in her acceptance speech, and Mayor Michelle Wu, who administered the oath of office.
Highlighting the inaugural ceremony were the four new councilors, John FitzGerald, Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana and Benjamin Weber, who were sworn in after the mayor read statements of support from their family members.
Santana, a 28-year-old Dominican Republic native and Wu’s former director of civic organizing, teared up when the mayor read a concluding statement from his father, who said, “Today, me and my wife feel like we have done something right.”
The mayor also delivered supportive remarks from FitzGerald’s mother, Pepén’s wife, Weber’s children, and the sister of Sharon Durkan, another new councilor who first won her seat in a July special election, but was sworn into her first full term.
Four of the new councilors, Durkan, Pepén, Santana and Weber, are progressives who were endorsed by the mayor in the fall election. FitzGerald is seen as a more conservative Democrat who was backed by former Mayor Marty Walsh and Frank Baker, who he replaced in District 3.
Baker and at-Large Councilor Michael Flaherty, who was replaced by Santana, chose not to seek re-election. Pepén, Wu’s former head of the Boston Office of Neighborhood Services, and Weber, a labor attorney, replaced Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara, who were defeated in the September preliminary election, in Districts 5 and 6.
FitzGerald, the son of the late state Rep. Kevin Fitzgerald, is the past deputy director of real estate operations for the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Durkan, who replaced Kenzie Bok in District 8, is a former political organizer who worked for the mayor.
Also sworn into their new terms were at-large Councilors Mejia and Murphy; and Councilors Coletta, Flynn, Worrell, Tania Fernandes Anderson and Breadon, of respective Districts 1, 2, 4, 7 and 9.
Wu congratulated the new councilors prior to administering the oath of office. She explained that the city charter is strict about holding the inauguration and first council meeting of the year on Jan. 1, a rule that was established long before New Year’s Day was established as a federal holiday.
The mayor also remarked on the diversity of the current and incoming councilors, saying that in many ways, their “presence here is revolutionary, and it can be traced back to people deciding to stand up for the freedom of choice.”
Wu, who also appeared at the body’s meeting to congratulate Louijeune, noted that the “leaders of this body reflect the best of what Boston has to offer.”