The 2013 Boston mayoral election occurred on Tuesday, November 5, 2013. Incumbent mayorThomas Menino had declined to run for re-election to a sixth term. A non-partisan preliminary election was held on Tuesday, September 24, 2013. 12 candidates made the ballot to replace Menino, with state representative Marty Walsh and at-large city councilor John R. Connolly advancing to the general election. Walsh was elected to his first term, defeating Connolly by 3% of the vote, and was inaugurated on Monday, January 6, 2014.[2]
Walsh and Connolly advanced to the general election after outperforming a crowded field in the nonpartisan primary. Other candidates in the primary included Charlotte Golar Richie (former state representative and former city chief of housing & neighborhood development), Daniel F. Conley (Suffolk County district attorney and former district city councilor), Felix G. Arroyo (at-large city councilor), John Barros (civic organizer and former Boston School Committee member), Robert Consalvo (state representative), Michael P. Ross (district city councilor), Bill Walczak (community activist), and Charles Yancey (district city councilor).
Background
Incumbent mayor Thomas Menino had held office ever since ascending to the mayoralty following the resignation of Raymond Flynn in 1993. In 2013, Menino opted against seeking what would have been his sixth elected term as mayor. He announced his decision not to seek reelection on March 27, 2013.[3]
Without an incumbent seeking reelection, this made the 2013 election the first open election since 1984, thirty years earlier.[3] Menino did not endorse a candidate.[4]
Candidates
Candidates who advanced to general election
Candidate
Experience
Announced
Ref
The following candidates advanced to the general election held on November 5.
Incumbent mayor Tom Menino had served since being elected to the position in 1993, making him the longest-serving mayor in Boston's history.[38] The first candidate to announce a campaign for mayor was at-Large Boston City Councillor John R. Connolly in February 2013, who announced an intent to base his campaign on reforming public education and opposing the influence of the Boston Teachers Union.[39] Connolly's campaign was considered to have little chance of succeeding if Menino decided to run for re-election, as the incumbent was highly popular in the city.[39] On March 28, Menino announced that he would not be seeking re-election, stating that health issues were preventing him from carrying out his tasks as mayor to a satisfactory standard.[40]
Soon after Menino's announcement, a field of candidates began to amass. On April 3, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley became the second candidate to join the field (after Connolly).[41] The next day, district city councillor Rob Consalvo (a resident of the of Hyde Park neighborhood) announced his candidacy. On April 7, activist Bill Walczak (a resident of the Dorchester neighborhood) entered the field.[42][43] On April 10, state representative Marty Walsh and at-large city councillor Felix G. Arroyo both announced their candidacies.[44] Several other candidates, including City Councillors Michael P. Ross and Charles Yancey, former state representative Charlotte Golar Richie, and Boston School Committee member John Barros announced campaigns over the following weeks. In total, twelve candidates made the ballot for the preliminary election.[45]
Connolly’s status as the only mayoral candidate to have announced a campaign before Menino declared that he would not run for re-election gave him an advantage in that it had given him more time to build a campaign apparatus and political platform.[46]
Upon his entry into the race Walsh had demonstrated organizational strength by gathering the required signatures to get on the ballot in a single day, which impressed political insiders and showcased the influence of the labor unions who were supporting his candidacy.[47] The advantages enjoyed by the two men led to them being considered the frontrunners for the two spots in the general election in the campaign's early stages.[47]
By mid-September, it was suggested by radio station WBUR-FM that a clear top tier of candidates had arisen in the race, consisting of Connolly, Walsh, Golar Richie, Arroyo and Conley.[48] Golar Richie's campaign was viewed as having gained significant momentum by this stage on the race, helped by her status as the most prominent black and only female candidate in the race.[48]
Both Connolly and Walsh were regarded to be liberal Democrats, with Connolly being perceived as being focused on education and Walsh having the reputation of being the candidate of organised labor.[70] Connolly was considered the frontrunner as the campaign began, as he was more well-known and was considered to have a superior field organisation to Walsh.[71] However, Walsh's campaign was boosted by large spending by labor unions, who were dissatisfied with Connolly due to his staunch support for charter schools.[71] Connolly raised objections to the support that Walsh had received, arguing that it would make him beholden to the unions if he were to win, but he made sure to temper his criticism to avoid alienating labor unions from his campaign completely.[70] Walsh responded to this criticism by arguing that his ties to labor would make him more effective at negotiating contracts and preventing strikes.[70] Walsh's campaign was also boosted by endorsements from his preliminary rivals Golar Richie, Barros and Arroyo.[72]
The relative lack of policy differences between the candidates led to the election largely coming down to a contest between biographies and personalities. Walsh supporters derided Connolly as a "corporate lawyer" while Connolly supporters characterised Walsh as a puppet of organized labor.[72] Connolly's base of support largely came from his home neighborhood of West Roxbury and the relatively affluent communities in Boston's west, while Walsh had support from both the more working-class, culturally conservative areas in South Boston and from left-wing activists who had been invigorated by Elizabeth Warren's successful campaign for U.S. Senate the previous year.[73][72]
John Connolly delivers his concession speech after the November election
Walsh defeated Connolly by a narrow margin of 3.5%, with Connolly conceeding and stating he believed Walsh would be a successful mayor.[89] There were a total of 560 write-in votes, the largest recipient of these being baseball player David Ortiz.[90]
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