* indicates incumbent
* indicates incumbent
All races in the Boston municipal election have now been decided. This concludes The Mass Media’s live election night coverage. Check back later this week for final vote tallies and election analysis.
At-Large Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy and Henry Santana were re-elected to their seats Tuesday, receiving 19.1%, 16.7%, 16.5% and 15.5% of the vote, respectively. 272 of Boston’s 275 precincts are now reporting.
Santana beat fifth-place candidate Frank Baker, who received 10.1% of the vote, by more than 14,700 votes. Also on the ballot were Alexandra Valdez, Marvin Mathelier and Will Onuoha.
With 97% of precincts reporting, incumbent Enrique Pepén defeated Winston Pierre for the District 5 city council seat. Pepén received 69% of the vote, winning by a margin of nearly 5,000 votes.
With 54% of the vote, Miniard Culpepper was on Tuesday elected to the open city council seat for District 7. 100% of precincts are reporting unofficial results. Culpepper defeated Said Ahmed by a margin of 568 votes. District 7 was the only race with no incumbent running.
District 6 incumbent Benjamin Weber defeated challenger Steven Berry with 85% of the vote, 9,050-1,558. The Mass Media called the race with 78% of the district’s precincts reporting.
In District 4, incumbent Brian Worrell was reelected to his seat with 84% of the vote, defeating Helen Cameron by more than 2,800 votes. The Mass Media called the race with 65.6% of precincts counted.
Liz Breadon, the District 9 incumbent, won reelection Tuesday with 68.9% of the vote. She defeated Pilar Ortiz. The Mass Media called the race with 96% of the district’s precincts reporting.
Mayor Michelle Wu, who just won her second term, declared Tuesday night that At-Large Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune and Henry Santana were re-elected to their seats based on her campaign’s review of unofficial results. All four incumbents are in the lead, but The Mass Media has not projected a winner. The race remains too early to call.
With 162 of Boston’s 275 precincts reporting unofficial results, Louijeune leads with 18.4% of the vote. The two other incumbents, Erin Murphy and Julia Mejia, are in second and third place, respectively, with 17.6% and 15.92% of the vote. Santana is in fourth place with 15.21%.
In fifth place is Frank Baker, who left his District 3 seat in 2023. Baker has 11% of the vote.
City council District 2 incumbent Edward Flynn defeated Charles Delaney with 86.6% of the vote. The Mass Media called the race with 74% of the district’s precincts reporting.
Incumbent Gabriela Zapata defeated Andretti McDuffie-Stanziani for the District 1 seat on city council. The Mass Media called the race with 79% of precincts in the district reporting unofficial results. Zapata leads by a margin of 65.6%.
In District 7, with 22.2% of precincts reporting, Miniard Culpepper has taken a narrow lead over Said Ahmed. Culpepper now leads Ahmed by 7.6% of the vote. The race remains too early to call.
The first votes from the remaining districts are now reporting, bringing the total to 15.6% of citywide precincts counted. Incumbents are off to an early lead in every race.
In District 2, incumbent Edward Flynn leads Charles Delaney 712-129 with 22.6% of precincts in the district reporting.
Incumbent Enrique Pepén is ahead of Winston Pierre 609-182 with 6.7% of District 5’s precincts counted.
With 5.6% of District 6 precincts reporting, incumbent Benjamin Weber leads Steven Barry 226-105.
In District 7, with 13.3% of precincts reporting, Said Ahmed is ahead of Miniard Culpepper 508-318. Both candidates compete for an open seat.
The first round of votes are posted from Districts 1, 4 and 9 as of 9:23 p.m., representing about 3.6% of precincts citywide.
In the race for four at-large seats on city council, incumbents Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Henry Santana and Erin Murphy are in the lead with 18.5%, 16.8%, 16.3% and 15.8% of the vote, respectively. Frank Baker, the leading challenger, has 10% of the vote.
In District 1, incumbent Gabriela Zapata leads Andretti McDuffie-Stanziani 701-130 with 10% of precincts reporting.
One of 32 precincts is reporting results in District 4, where incumbent Brian Worrell leads Helen Cameron 179-29.
With 11% of District 9’s precincts reporting, incumbent Liz Breadon is ahead of Pilar Ortiz 451-192.
Districts 2, 5, 6 and 7 are still not reporting any results.
The city is expected to begin posting unofficial tallies around 10 p.m.. The races for all four at-large city council seats and Districts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 remain too early to call.
With 0% of votes counted, The Mass Media is calling the race for city council District 8 for incumbent Sharon Durkan. Durkan was uncontested on the ballot.
With 0% of votes counted, The Mass Media is calling the race for city council District 3 for incumbent John Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was uncontested on the ballot.
With 0% of votes counted, The Mass Media is calling the race for the mayor’s office for incumbent Michelle Wu. The race was uncontested after challenger Josh Kraft dropped out Sept. 11 and third-place candidate Domingos DaRosa failed to secure enough votes in the Sept. 9 preliminary election to make it on the ballot.
Polls in Boston will close in 30 minutes, at which point any registered voter who is in line will be allowed to cast a ballot. Some voters may be required to show ID.
The Mass Media will begin posting voter turnout information and results as they become available. According to the City of Boston, the first votes may not be posted until 10 p.m.
Immediately after polls close, we will begin calling any uncontested municipal races. We do not post any results before polls are closed.
Throughout election night, we watch the vote count as the city begins reporting unofficial results. We do not predict the outcome of elections. We will only call a contested race once it is mathematically impossible for the trailing candidate to secure a path to victory. Until then, we will report that the race is too early to call.
In some cases, where the margin is within 200 votes or 2 percentage points, we may declare a race too close to call. We will not declare a winner in too-close-to-call races until official results are available, to account for the possibility of a recount or late-arriving absentee ballots shifting the results.
This year, eight candidates are competing for four at-large city council seats. All four incumbents — Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy and Henry Santana — seek reelection against challengers Frank Baker, Marvin Mathelier, Will Onuoha and Alexandra Valdez. In the preliminary election, Baker, who was the most-voted challenger, received approximately 4,000 fewer votes than Santana, the least-voted incumbent.
In District 7, Said Ahmed faces off against Miniard Culpepper for an open seat. The race had the most contenders in the preliminary election, with more than 11 candidates seeking the seat. Ahmed received 15.8% of the vote, while Culpepper received 15.0%. The third-place candidate, Mavrick Alfonso, received 14.7%, triggering a recount.
District 5’s race is the next most hotly contested, with incumbent Enrique Pepén fighting Winston Pierre for his seat. Pepén received 63% of the vote in the preliminary election, versus Pierre’s 24%.
In District 1, incumbent Gabriela Zapata competes for her seat with Andretti McDuffie-Stanziani. During the preliminary election, Zapata received 76% of the vote. In District 2, Charles Delaney challenges incumbent Edward Flynn for his seat. Flynn received 86% of the preliminary vote. In District 4, incumbent Brian Worrell, who received 81% of the vote in the preliminary election, competes against Helen Cameron.
In District 6, incumbent Benjamin Weber faces off against Steven Berry, while in District 9, Pilar Ortiz challenges incumbent Liz Breadon. Neither district had a preliminary election.
Polls are now open until 8 p.m. for the municipal election. First-time and inactive voters are required to show valid ID to cast a ballot, according to the secretary of the commonwealth. Other voters may be asked to show it only if they are casting a provisional ballot or “the poll worker has a practical and legal reason to ask for identification,” the secretary of the commonwealth’s website states.
Any registered voter who is in line when polls close will be allowed to cast a ballot.
Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday for Boston’s municipal election, in which residents will elect candidates for the mayor’s office, four at-large city council seats and nine city council districts.
Voters can find their polling location by searching their voter registration via the secretary of the commonwealth’s office. A complete list of precincts is available on the City of Boston’s website. Residents must have registered before Oct. 25 to be eligible to vote in this election.
Incumbent Michelle Wu will be the only name on the ballot for mayor after challenger Josh Kraft dropped out of the race Sept. 11 following poor performance in the Sept. 9 preliminary election. Kraft received 23% of the vote. Third-place candidate Domingos DaRosa received just 2.6% of the vote in the preliminary election, which was not enough to earn him a spot in the general election.
City council District 3 incumbent John FitzGerald and District 8 incumbent Sharon Durkan will also be the only names on the ballot in their respective districts.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Follow along for live updates from The Mass Media throughout Election Day and results as they become available.
Correction: Sharon Durkan represents District 8.