Attention centered on the Boston’s City Councilor At-Large race — featuring eight candidates vying for four seats — as residents cast their ballots across the city for the general municipal election Tuesday.
With Mayor Michelle Wu running unopposed after challenger Josh Kraft dropped out, seven District City Council seats and all four City Council At-Large seats were in voters’ hands.
While the preliminary election Sept. 3 demonstrated strong support for all incumbent District City Councilors, the four City Councilor At-Large positions remained competitive.
Top issues candidates campaigned on include affordable housing, improved education and reliable, low-cost transportation.
Back Bay resident Rachel Einstein, a software engineer, said she researched the candidates’ backgrounds and endorsements before hitting the polls Tuesday.
“Henry Santana was trying particularly hard,” Einstein said. “It seemed like his main selling point was being a close advocate of Mayor Wu.”
She added her views do not align with the policies of Frank Baker, the former city councilor competing for an at-large seat.
Baker trailed behind Santana in the preliminary election, finishing fifth out of the 10 at-large candidates. Before giving up his seat two years ago, Baker served more than a decade as the District 3’s representative, which includes Dorchester and parts of the South End. His policies skew further right compared to his opponents.
“I have heard a steady beat of Bostonians urging me to step back in and get involved,” Baker wrote in an X post May 8.
Douglas Lifford, a 57-year-old lawyer, cast his vote for Santana on Tuesday at the Boston Public Library.
After looking into the candidates, he found most were pushing similar policies.
“The issue that probably matters the most to me is affordable housing,” Lifford said. “Even though it’s not an issue for me, I think it’s a desperate issue for the city.”
Education also topped his list of priorities. He said Boston’s public schools could face a “potential crisis” in the wake of decreased enrollment.
“Which ones do they close, [and] which ones do they keep open?” he said. “When it’s happened in other cities, it’s been pretty devastating, so I’m hoping someone can do something about it.”
Psychotherapist Dorothy Feincig and financial advisor Stuart Feincig both said they want better schools for Boston students and safer streets for pedestrians as they stood outside the BPL before casting their votes.
As lifelong voters, they emphasized the importance of participating in local elections.
“You don’t get to do this in every country,” Stuart Feincig said.
