The Twitters are exploding: John Connolly has conceded the election to Marty Walsh.
Looks like the at-large City Council seats will go Michelle Wu, Ayanna Pressley, Michael Flaherty, Steve Murphy. That’s an entirely predictable and, really, quite good result. Hearty congratulations to Michelle Wu for coming in either first or a very close second in her first election! [UPDATE: the final results have Pressley in first place by about 1,100 votes over Wu, who came in second, followed by Flaherty and Murphy. Congrats to Pressley on her first-place finish! How ’bout that … two women of color go 1-2 for Boston City Council at-large.]
Some less awesome news is that Bill Linehan won reelection in District 2 over Suzanne Lee, 53-47.
Elsewhere, Bill De Blasio romped to victory in New York City, as expected; Chris Christie did the same in New Jersey; and Terry McAuliffe looks to be heading for victory in Virginia, though by a closer margin than was predicted.
More soon.
My first question for the mayor elect is, what do all of those people who poured millions into your campaign want and what are you going to do for them?
Are you referring to the unions? Are you really asking what unions want? It’s not that mysterious.
A completely valid question from an actual Boston resident and taxpayer. I have no idea who funded all of the pro-Walsh ad buys, and in my experience, people don’t spend millions of dollars without expecting something in return for their investment.
While Walsh had more outside money, it wasn’t one sided.
Listening to WBUR right now they said 2.5 million from “Union” and 1.5 million from Dems for Edu Reform. A million more is a lot of money (if that is the final spread) but 1.5 million from DFER would have had me asking the same question you have:
“My first question for the mayor elect is, what do all of those people who poured millions (or 1.5 million) into your campaign want and what are you going to do for them?”
We kind of know what the third party money that supported Connolly wanted. No idea what Walsh’s third party supporters want.
What did they want?
Whether you agree with them or not (and I don’t agree with everything they want) at least their agenda is fairly transparent. Can you tell me what OneBoston wants or who funded them?
didn’t come from the admittedly mysterious “One Boston.” Most of it came from union-funded groups. So, it’s really not that complicated.
Spent almost half a mil. That may not be a lot of money for you, but it is for me. And my guess is that they have some kind of agenda.
Considering the amount of money, the timing, and the secrecy,
It could be casino money. If it were just union money, there would be no reason to hide it.
And the timing suggests that it’s not money from someone who wantss Walsh to win particularly. It’s money from someone who thinks he might win and wants to be (or stay) a player during the new administration.
If it is Casino money, it will be interesting to see how dead the Suffolk Downs proposal stays.
I can tell you where the money is not coming from. It’s not coming from a group of public minded citizens intent on dismantling the BRA.
Their agenda is maddeningly vague. I think they want to expand charter schools, but I don’t know for sure, and I certainly don’t know why charter schools are supposed to be so wonderful.
that Mr. Connolly sought union endorsement and support, right? I was with those guys last night and I know Mr. Connolly went after the same support Marty Walsh went after.
That was a bad thing? My question was, and remains, what do they people who invested a lot of $$ in the mayor-elect hope to get out of their investment and what is he going to do for them?
And it would be the same wither way. It’s a terrible “first question for the mayor elect”. All outside money groups want ‘something”.
The union groups likely wanted to support the guy that will do all he can to give laborers a honest deal at the bargaining table.
DFER wanted to support the guy that they feel would benefit them most vis-a-vis corporate education reform.
One Boston – unknown.
I’ve been in this business way too long to think that people spend millions of dollars on campaigns out of the goodness of their hearts.
I know what DFER wanted, and I don’t like it.
And if not, why should I like them?
Cambridge still sucks at counting votes.
No results yet and apparently no reporting of tallies during counting available on the internet (or it’s very well-hidden).
Embarrassing.
when you have a weird-ass tiered voting system.
How would you report tallies when the tally is still going on? PR is city wide, not by precinct. That’s the whole idea of PR: voters elect their own “precincts.”
But it’s the system we have. I tried to get an elected mayor and re-open the PR debate, there is just not enough grassroots passion for either change. Not even top vote getter Anthony Galluccio could get either of those changes put before voters. This year was quite exciting, lot of new candidates, very proud of my good friend and 06′ classmate Luis Vasquez for the race he ran, proud of Nadeem Mazen, also under 30 and backed by a lot of former classmates, and my mentors Craig Kelley and Marc McGovern. The youth and neighborhoods, which have been long neglected, were finally engaged and hopefully they came out. I don’t know Sam Seidel as well, but I hope he can get back on.
There are plenty of weird-ass tiered voting systems with quick results, and there’s Canada, who use first past the post, but paper ballots, and it takes them overnight to get the results.
My question for a Cambridge election expert: can you explain to me exactly how Cambridge tabulates the IRV? Paper ballot or computer? How do they actually redistribute the votes? I’ve seen some writing on it, but it seemed imperfect so I’d prefer to hold my thoughts and see if anyone in the know can explain it carefully and with details.
From ME:
geoffm33: If I hear “New Boston” vs “Old Boston” again, I will scream. WHAT ABOUT COMMUNITIES OF COLOR??? #bosmayor
“New vs. Old” is the lazy hack version of what happened tonight.
obscures the actual results on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis. The terms lack definition. You have to take a look at the numbers precinct by precinct to find the common thread that separated the candidates, if there is one.
… on a hard fought but notably cordial election.
They had Walsh +3, they seem like they pretty much have been right on.
Who is the guy on stage at Walsh’s party in the (horribly fitting) tan suit? Dancing like at a wedding.
The mayor-elect’s cousin, also named Marty Walsh.
Hard to believe Democrats taking such a negative attitude towards “unions expecting something from Mayor-elect Walsh.” Aren’t we supposed to be the party of working people? Would you rather the Koch brothers donated to a winning candidate? Oh I’m sorry it’s only ok when Tom Steyer spends his millions in our Commonwealth.
because I agree with you about labor. The antipathy to labor among some Democrats has been highly distressing to me. But I don’t think anyone here was in favor of Steyer’s intervention, Keystone opponents and Markey supporters included.
…as did the Dem LG candidate by a wider margin (against a GOP candidate who somehow managed to be more extreme than Cuccinelli), but the AG race has the GOP candidate slightly ahead.
My favorite result of the night is that Willie Lantigua is out as Mayor of Lawrence!
Congrats to Marty Walsh on a great victory for all of Boston. And congrats to John Connolly who ran a strong race and gave a fine concession speech tonight.
Congrats to Organized Labor – ya know the UNIONS – who stood with a pro-worker and pro-working family candidate early. Put heart and soul, sweat and feet on the street for Marty Walsh. It was private sector and public sector unions alike and field made the difference in a 4900 vote margin.
Congrats to Charlotte Golar Richie, Felix Arroyo and John Barros (and all the other endorsers) who not only offered their names but their time and energy for Marty’s campaign. They were class acts who fueled a victory.
Congrats to the LGBT community and leaders like State Rep. Liz Malia and Arline Issacson who stood with a candidate who had a proven record on equity issues and who said in his preliminary victory speech his proudest vote was marriage equality.
Congrats to Josh Zakim and Tim McCarthy for taking Boston District seats and Michelle Wu and Mike Flaherty for winning open At-Large seats. Steve Murphy and Ayanna Pressley were well deserving of re-election by Boston voters. Congrats to D-2 Councilor Bill Linehan for a victory that defied the pundits. Congrats to Anna Essaibi George who took 5th place at large and is in-line for any opening among the At-Large Councilors.
A flip of the middle finger to the Editors of the Boston Globe and Boston Herald for one-sided coverage of the final and editorials that demonized unions and Marty Walsh’s union membership. Especially for attacking Marty for being a Union Rep while in the House and never mentioning Connolly’s “other job” as a corporate attorney while a City Councilor.
Congrats to Marty’s cousin Marty Walsh, a big hearted and determined Union leader who while fashion challenged and a really bad dancer, worked 24/7 for his cousin and earned a victory dance on stage.
Thanks for the vote of no confidence. I take it as a badge of honor from someone who was writing anti-Connolly diaries and comments for the last month.
You’re more than welcome if it makes you feel better. I’ll take the 13 thumbs up as a confirmation of my comment..
I’ve written about the support Connolly has gotten from Republicans and outside group like DFER. Republicans who are decidedly against what most on BMG consider core issues. That’s far game IMO as were questions about funding groups with Walsh. I have never written a bad word about John Connolly himself. I’ve known John for 20 years and supported him for City Council in all his runs.
With the election over I chose to post a positive comment on John as I celebrated Marty Walsh’s win. You chose to post an attack on Walsh within minutes of his victory.
Sugar coat it all you want, your comment was bad form, poor judgment and displayed a sore loser mentality. I’ve read a lot from Connolly supporters about “divisive” Walsh supporters but it wasn’t the Walsh BMGers going on the attack last night.
So please wear your badge proudly. I don’t need no stinkin’ badges.
wear it proudly, and frankly I couldn’t care less what other people on the site think about my comments. I congratulated Mayor-elect Walsh on his win in another thread. I think he’ll be a fine mayor.
What I haven’t liked during this entire race has been the “if you’re not 100% with the unions 100% of the time, then you’re not a Democrat” tone of many of the comments. I’m most certainly a Democrat, but if that’s the new litmus test for the party, then I guess I’ll have to change my registration. Our strength has always been that we’re a big tent — we can disagree without being disagreeable. But the outside expenditures and the hypocritical attitude that many of the folks here (who vociferously opposed Citizens United) have had throughout the Mayor’s race really rubs me the wrong way.
As I’ve said before, I live in the city, own a home here and hope to stay for a very long time. I care deeply about Boston, and I want Rep. Walsh to succeed. I just wish his supporters and allies had gone about things differently.
Based on your comments in previous races, I know we’ve been with the same candidates in the past and I’m sure we’ll be with the same candidates in the future. Maybe I’ll see you on the trail.
in Lowell, we can’t even rid ourselves of our craziest asshole nor our pretty brainless wishywashy guy. Jeopardizing 7 years of progress.
Hopefully we can weather another round of stupid. It’s gonna get hairy up here.
Glad Marty won, that’s great, and Lantigua is out in Lawrence, that can only be a GOOD thing.
Also, I got my solar hooked up today, so all is not lost. If needs be, I’ll unplug from the grid and the hecks with you all!
gets the coveted 5th place slot in the tight 4 way race
As in, Lenny’s kid. I love it. I hope he partied at the Hynes Auditorium. (I assume partying on the Zakim Bridge would have been a no-no.)
Also: Ayanna Pressley. We take it for granted that she topped the ticket. But I’m so old I can remember when that would have been hard to imagine.
Change, my friends. I’ll say it … hope too.
The marriage between Democrats and labor is strained, and I blame money, but there are others reasons too, and labor hasn’t always covered itself in glory. But it would be awful if this ended in divorce. The other party is pro-management; there’s only one alternative, us. We have to be pro-labor.
Besides, I truly believe, as someone who’s never been in a union, that my salary is higher, and we are all better off because of unions. Labor needs a home.
This election shows labor cannot be ignored in a Dempcratic primary, as does the NYC election. Labor was a large contributor to McAuliffe’s election and its defeat of Kasich’s bill was a large reason OH stayed blue in 12 and the real reason for his notable tack to the middle on economic issues. The challenge will be getting these victories attributed to labor in the MSM while also getting tangible labor victories over management. The solidarity German VW workers showed forcing VW to enact cooperative management in its American plants, the fast food strikes, and labor working on behalf of non-unionized worker rights here and abroad can and should be the next big
Thing. Workers rights are human rights and making that link is a key way to get the blue collar-progressive alliance revitalized. Labor is essential for that fight.
Not Connolly himself, but the zetigeist of the campaign was “Union guy vs. non-union guy,” and he lost 51-49 in one of America’s most Democratic cities.
If Walsh had Christie numbers, the message would be “you can’t ignore labor.” The message here is mixed, I think. You can’t outright demonize labor, but you’re supposed to be “innovative” or some crap like that. You’re supposed to emphasize, with some voters, that you won’t be beholden to unions. I’m reminded of Kennedy having to prove he wouldn’t be governed by the Pope.
The results, I think, reflect odd cultural identifications rooted in recent Boston history. Connolly won handily in “Boston proper,” but I’m not sure that the “backlash” Tudor suggested happened because downtown professionals felt Walsh supporters were demonizing them. I’m inclined to think many of those voters just didn’t connect with Walsh in the first place, perhaps for reasons of style. I saw a tendency among some Connolly supporters to identify Walsh with reactionary elements of “old Boston,” which to me was belied by Walsh’s strong support in communities of color and among progressive activists.
I was talking about this with someone the other day. Thankfully, we are at a place in Boston where a candidate who, openly or in code, ran on racism or anti-gay animus would be roundly condemned and would almost certainly lose. We are not at that point with respect to organized labor. Too many people in the Democratic coalition view labor with suspicion if not hostility. I hope it changes.
My comments above should be on David’s winners and losers thread. Carry on …