Attorney Allison Cartwright, a political newcomer backed by Boston’s progressive contingent, declared victory in Tuesday’s tight Democratic primary for Suffolk clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court over Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy.
Murphy had yet to concede the race to Cartwright by shortly after 10:30 p.m., at which point unofficial results had been made public by Chelsea and Winthrop, but not by Revere and Boston — although Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who endorsed Cartwright, was present when the public defender was declaring victory.
“This is not a victory for me,” Cartwright told supporters at her Jamaica Plain election night party. “This is a victory for us. This is a victory for democracy, a victory for the independence of our courts, and especially our state’s highest court.”
Cartwright said she could not have won without “people like Mayor Michelle Wu” and also thanked the outgoing longtime Suffolk SJC Clerk Maura Doyle, who was also present while she was declaring victory, for her roughly 30 years of service.
Doyle announced her retirement last February, setting off what quickly became a battle of Boston’s progressive and moderate sectors, with politicians in those respective camps throwing their support behind Cartwright and Murphy in their bid for the roughly $190,000 gig.
Battle lines were also evident throughout the involved cities and towns in a Democratic primary that went down to the wire on Tuesday night. According to unofficial results made available by 11 p.m., Cartwright won Chelsea via a 718-501 vote margin, while Murphy won Winthrop, via an 827-719 margin.
By that time, election webpages in Boston and Revere were devoid of results, although a source said Cartwright was on track for a Revere win, and a Dorchester Reporter editor posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Wu and other Cartwright allies had described the attorney’s margin in Boston as “insurmountable.”
Cartwright, 62, has 32 years of legal experience and currently works as a managing director of the Public Defender Division’s Central Region. She and her allies often touted her legal experience as making her more qualified for the SJC clerk role than Murphy, a former Boston schoolteacher and current city councilor.
Murphy, an at-large city councilor who cruised to a second term on the Council last fall, spoke throughout the campaign about how she was more than qualified for the clerk position, given that it was administrative and managerial in nature.
The city councilor did not respond to a request for comment, but had no plans to concede until she saw the Boston election results, which per a source, were shared with Cartwright by the mayor but not Murphy.
The gig would represent a pay bump for both. Murphy makes $115,000 on the City Council and Cartwright puts her current salary at about $150,000.
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