Boston City Council elections were held on November 3, 2009. Eight seats (four district representatives and four at-large members) were contested in the general election, as the incumbents in districts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 were unopposed. Seven seats (the four at-large members, and districts 1, 7, and 9) had also been contested in the preliminary election held on September 22, 2009.
Councillors John R. Connolly and Stephen J. Murphy were re-elected to their at-large seats. Incumbents Michael F. Flaherty and Sam Yoon did not run for re-election as they were running for Mayor of Boston; their seats were won by Felix G. Arroyo and Ayanna Pressley. Pressley's victory made her first woman of color to be elected to the council in its history.[1]
| Candidates | Preliminary Election[2] | General Election[3] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| John R. Connolly (incumbent) | 35,182 | 18.08% | 51,362 | 18.35% | |
| Stephen J. Murphy (incumbent) | 30,365 | 15.61% | 51,008 | 18.22% | |
| Felix G. Arroyo | 25,859 | 13.29% | 45,144 | 16.13% | |
| Ayanna Pressley | 16,866 | 8.67% | 41,879 | 14.96% | |
| Tito Jackson | 12,535 | 6.44% | 30,203 | 10.79% | |
| Andrew Kenneally | 12,653 | 6.50% | 24,249 | 8.66% | |
| Tomás González | 10,122 | 5.20% | 18,310 | 6.54% | |
| Doug Bennett | 10,529 | 5.41% | 16,842 | 6.02% | |
| Ego Ezedi | 9,260 | 4.76% | |||
| Hiep Quoc Nguyen | 7,691 | 3.95% | |||
| Sean H. Ryan | 6,665 | 3.43% | |||
| Jean-Claude Sanon | 5,386 | 2.77% | |||
| Robert Fortes | 5,071 | 2.61% | |||
| Bill Trabucco | 3,132 | 1.61% | |||
| Scotland Willis | 2,639 | 1.36% | |||
| all others | 595 | 0.31% | 951 | 0.34% | |
Councillor Salvatore LaMattina was re-elected.
| Candidates | Preliminary Election[4] | General Election[5] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Salvatore LaMattina (incumbent) | 5,599 | 73.37% | 8,111 | 76.58% |
| Chris Kulikoski | 1,149 | 15.06% | 2,444 | 23.07% |
| Laura Garza | 854 | 11.19% | ||
Councillor Bill Linehan ran unopposed.[6]
Councillor Maureen Feeney ran unopposed.[7]
Councillor Charles Yancey ran unopposed.[8]
Councillor Robert Consalvo ran unopposed.[9]
Councillor John M. Tobin, Jr. ran unopposed.[10]
In August 2010, Tobin resigned his seat to take a position as Vice President for City and Community Affairs at Northeastern University.[11] The seat was filled via a special election on November 16, 2010, with the preliminary election on October 19, 2010. Matt O'Malley was elected to serve the remainder of Tobin's term, defeating James W. Hennigan III, brother of former council member Maura Hennigan.
| Candidates[12] | Special Prelim. Election[13] | Special Gen. Election[14] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||
| Matt O'Malley | 3830 | 53.16% | 5283 | 59.97% | |
| James W. Hennigan III | 2197 | 30.50% | 3487 | 39.58% | |
| Sean H. Ryan | 613 | 8.51% | |||
| Kosta Demos | 350 | 4.86% | |||
| Chun-Fai Chan | 196 | 2.72% | |||
| all others | 18 | 0.25% | 40 | 0.45% | |
Councillor Chuck Turner was re-elected.
| Candidates | Preliminary Election[15] | General Election[16] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Chuck Turner (incumbent) | 3,648 | 52.57% | 5,521 | 59.83% |
| Carlos Henriquez | 1,659 | 23.91% | 3,644 | 39.49% |
| Althea Garrison | 995 | 14.34% | ||
| Roy Owens | 610 | 8.79% | ||
On December 1, 2010, Turner was expelled by an 11–1 vote, following his corruption conviction, making him the first councillor to be expelled in the history of the modern Boston City Council.[17] This created a vacancy that needed to be filled by a special election, which took place on March 15, 2011, with the preliminary election on February 15, 2011. Tito Jackson was elected to serve the remainder of Turner's term.
| Candidates | Special Prelim. Election[18] | Special Gen. Election[19] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Tito Jackson | 1,944 | 67.38% | 2,829 | 81.98% |
| Cornell Mills | 271 | 9.39% | 557 | 16.14% |
| Daneille Renee Williams | 258 | 8.94% | ||
| Althea Garrison | 150 | 5.20% | ||
| Natalie Carithers | 96 | 3.33% | ||
| Roy Owens | 89 | 3.08% | ||
Councillor Michael P. Ross was re-elected.
| Candidates | General Election[20] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ||
| Michael P. Ross (incumbent) | 5,331 | 84.10% | |
| Oscar Brookins | 981 | 15.48% | |
Councillor Mark Ciommo was re-elected.
| Candidates | Preliminary Election[21] | General Election[22] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Mark Ciommo (incumbent) | 3,495 | 59.78% | 4,849 | 64.31% |
| Alex Selvig | 1,353 | 23.14% | 2,678 | 35.42% |
| Abigail Furey | 785 | 13.43% | ||
| Benjamin Ian Narodick | 188 | 3.22% | ||