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Wu didn't just come in first in the at-large race; she showed strong numbers in much of the city
By adamg on Thu, 09/26/2019 - 5:00pm
Matthew McCloskey has put together a map of results from Tuesday's preliminary for the four at-large seats on the Boston City Council. You can get a good idea of the numbers at a glance citywide, then click on specific precincts to see the top four finishers.
Now before making any conclusions, keep in mind that barely more than 11% of registered Boston voters actually went to the polls.
But with that out of the way, the most obvious result is that Michelle Wu ran strong pretty much everywhere. Sure, Michael Flaherty did better than her in a few spots (his hometown of South Boston and parts of West Roxbury, East Boston and Charlestown), but that map shows her finishing first in most of the city's 255 precincts.
It's a good base to work on should she decide to try a run for mayor in two years.
McCloskey has also created a map showing the winners if Wu hadn't run.
H/t Gary.
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Comments
My takeaways
Wu, Flaherty, Essabi-George are in. St Guillen and Murphy shoot out for the last spot depending on turnout and GOT efforts between the liberal side of things (St G.) and the [Michele McPhee voice] cawps/fiyahfightah/cahpentah side of things (Murphy). St Guillen came in second in more spots but Murphy won districts where there is usually high turnout and more voters of high influence (union, Walsh admin leader types)
I like Halbert but I think he's not going anywhere this round.
I've doubted Murphy before
and boy was I wrong. However, I don't see how 7th place with low voter turnout gets you to be a competitor for 4th place with much higher voter turnout. If she can raise 100k between now and then maybe she has a shot. My guess is St. Guillen or Mejia get the 4th spot and Murphy and Garrison battle for 6th. Either that or the results of the general are exactly the same as the preliminary (no bold prediction there).
So what percentage of voters
So what percentage of voters turned out?
Slightly more than ...
11%.
11% turnout?
11 percent?
11 PERCENT?
This may shed some light on why even initially idealistic elected officials, over time, might develop contempt for the electorate they serve.
Yup
Mimi Turchenitz (my vote for District 5 on Tuesday) accepted her defeat with dignity, but did not that the low turnout is really sad.
When Garrison ascended to the council, there was bellyaching by some of the lower placed candidates. Perhaps if they got the vote out, they'd have gotten the seat (or heck, they could have won on their own right.)
I do take the opposite tack. I think that the non-voters have no right to gripe about who gets elected, since they opted out of the process. In some parts of the world, they fight for the right to decide who governs them. Here, less people seem to care.
My last shot across the bow (not yours, but in general) is to note that the precinct with the highest turnout is probably the most conservative precinct in the city. Take that, progressives!
Also
The larger the vote, the bigger the constituency needed to win, the more moderate the candidate usually.
If you need a big tent to win, you have to do things to keep that big tent happy.
Lower turnout means less constituents you need to appeal to, and their pet projects get the grease.
Mayor Wu
Michelle Wu is the next Mayor of Boston.
Unlikely
By the time Marty is wrapping up his tenure the part of Boston where she lives might not even be part of Boston.
We're loud, we're proud, We're Rozzie!
Um, what? Roslindale's not going anywhere.
But downtown might
We can secede too y'know.
Fatuous
What an unserious thinker you are, which is on brand for a Randian type I guess.
Why?
What's in it for us? If you had a blank slate, why would, for example Roxbury want to team up administratively with West Roxbury?
So was John Connolly
So was John Connolly. So was Charlotte Golar Ritchie. So was Michael Flaherty. On and on. A lot can and will change. And Walsh is nowhere near as weak as Twitter or UHub commenters would lead one to believe. And if Walsh doesn’t run, there are people like Andrea Campbell putting together formidable organizations and support. Nothing against Wu. Point is there’s a long way to go here.
Althea Garrison votes by precinct
The map you've been waiting for.
40% of the possible votes on Dorchester Heights
I guess Southie is changing after all.
Southie is changing
But there are still a lot of law abiding citizens who support the Boston Police, just like Althea Garrison the only City Councilor who had the “balls” (no pun intended) to support the cops.
Those left in Southie who vote appreciate that.
False equivalency
"Law-abiding" and "publicly kissing police ass" are not the same thing.
Meaningless resolutions in City Council do not support the police. Supporting the police means advocating for favorable pay, benefits, working conditions, training, and insisting on quality management of the department. (most of which I believe we are achieving in Boston, and the professionalism of our department speaks for itself)
Council President will be next Mayor
Who is in line for Council President? That's your next Mayor. Recall that Council President Tom Menino was elevated to Mayor when Ray Flynn was appointed US Ambassador to the Holy See. If he has, as rumored, agreed not to run again, Walsh will leave early in order to thwart Wu, at least temporarily. I do believe she will be Mayor sooner rather than later but may have to battle an incumbent other than Walsh. Marty will want to dictate who his successor is in order to retain some power for himself and protection for his crew who may need a few more years to max out the city pension. Walsh's pension is all set since his state representative years count as creditable service.
correct
i find myself bashing my head reading your comments normally but this is true. what's even bigger than this is that the current race determines the people sitting on the council, who in turn will vote for the next city council president.
Fascinating maps! Thanks
Fascinating maps! Thanks Matthew for making those, and Adam for linking to them. Among other things, it's a very good mirror image of how segregated our City remains.
Also worth noting; the rate of participation. Under 5% in some of the precincts to above 35% in some other areas.
How segregated th city remains?
Do tell? As I note above, Althea Garrison did well in Southie and Neponset.
Now, if you are talking ideological segregation, that is by no means new and by absolutely no means isolated to Boston. And judging by some of the commenters at this website, there are people who would like more ideological segregation.
The neighborhoods are segregated
Are you trying to argue that they're not? They are ideologically segregated as well as segregated by race which is what the original commenter was saying. This shouldn't surprise anyone, they've been segregated for hundreds of years.
I would say
That anyone who lived in Boston before the 1990s can tell you what a segregated Boston was like. There are still pockets (specifically I would say most but not all of West Roxbury and Mattapan) that are still like the olden days, but even Southie has a diversity that is surprising. Again, Garrison drew votes in Southie. Wu was strong citywide. This ain't the Boston of Louise Day Hicks.
Yo McClosky!
For the without-Wu map, it would have been much more helpful if you retained the same color scheme as the with-Wu map.
Solid work though.