With a strong showing in yesterday’s City Council elections, Sam Yoon became the only newcomer to the Council and the first-ever Asian American to win an elected office in Boston.
Yoon will become one of four at-large councilors, who represent the entire city. At-Large councilors are selected in a process that narrows a field of eight potential candidates to the top four vote-getters.
Of the eight candidates this year, Yoon joins three incumbents – Felix Arroyo, Michael Flaherty and Stephen Murphy – who all reclaimed their seats. Yoon seized third place with about 15 percent of the vote, while incumbent councilor Murphy came in fourth with 12.7 percent.
Murphy, who has held college students responsible for allegedly reckless behavior at off-campus parties and during last year’s Red Sox playoff riots, came in fourth in the Sept. 27 preliminary election, falling behind newcomer John Connolly. Last night, he beat Connolly by less than 4,000 votes – a 1.4 percent margin.
About 97,000 voters cast ballots yesterday, putting voter turnout at just over 35 percent.
All six incumbent district councilors – including Jerry McDermott (Allston, Brighton), who represents a neighborhood with a high number of college students – won their seats back in landslide victories.
In a city with a history of Irish Catholic politicians, Yoon is the first Asian American to run for and win a seat on the Council. According to U.S. Census data, Boston’s Asian population grew 47 percent between 1990 and 2000, now comprising 7.5 percent of Boston’s total population.
Yoon represents rising political activity among Boston’s Asian population. He will take the place of Maura Hennigan, a 24-year Council veteran who gave up her seat to run for mayor this year.
The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit over the summer claiming that the city discriminated against non-English-speaking voters in the last election. After several meetings among the Justice Department, Mayor Thomas Menino and Boston city councilors, city officials vowed to make voting more accessible for Chinese- and Vietnamese-speaking voters.
For the Sept. 27 preliminary election, city officials made Chinese and Vietnamese translators available at polling stations and also distributed voting materials in those languages.
Yoon, a Fields Corner resident, was born in Seoul, North Korea and moved to Boston as an infant. A graduate of Princeton University, he is a certified teacher.
Most recently, as development director of the Asian Community Development Corporation, Yoon worked to increase the availability of affordable housing.
In a debate on Oct. 24, Yoon vehemently opposed Boston University’s plan to build a Level 4 Biolab. Yoon said the lab, which would contain strains of lethal diseases, would pose serious threats to residents in the South End.
Menino, who handily defeated Hennigan and won his fourth term as mayor, supports the biolab for its potential to bring research and construction jobs to Boston. Murphy has not taken a strong stance on the biolab and has said that the lab should not be a central issue in this year’s campaign.
Flaherty, who has served as Council president since 2002, came in first in the election with more than 17 percent of the vote.
A graduate of Boston University Law School, Flaherty has expressed support for the BU biolab on the grounds that it has the potential to “put Boston on the map.” But he was hesitant to fully endorse construction of the lab without a coordinated evacuation plan.