What an election night!
The 2021 municipal elections in Massachusetts included a number of open seats in communities like Somerville, Boston, and Medford that paved the road for newcomers. Of Sierra Club’s endorsed candidates on Tuesday night, 33 won and 10 lost with several races still being contested. We’ll dive into the specifics but before we do that, here are several key takeaways from election night, a report on environmental justice wins, and candidates that still need your support.
Let’s start with the takeaways. First, Tuesday night represented a generational shift in Boston politics. Massachusetts Sierra Club’s priority candidate, Michelle Wu, won with over 60% of the vote. Sierra Club-endorsed candidates will comprise 2 out of 4 At-Large Councilors and 5 out of 9 District Councilors. Three of these councilors are newcomers and all three newcomers are Black women - lawyer and environmental justice advocate Ruthzee Louijeune in the At-Large seat, first-generation Boston youth leader Kendra Hicks in District 6, and community non-profit founder Tania Fernandes Anderson in District 7. They will join returning Sierra Club endorsees Julia Mejia, Kenzie Bok, Ricardo Arroyo, and Lydia Edwards on Boston City Council. Unfortunately, Sierra Club’s third endorsed candidate for at-Large City Council, David Halbert, fell short by 0.09%.
This new council, 43% white, represents a large demographic shift from the 69% white council that joined Marty Walsh in his first term in 2013. Reflected in this new generation of Boston politics is Michelle Wu, whose sweeping platform of social, environmental, and economic change differs starkly from Mayor Walsh’s previous campaigns. These changes stand to fundamentally shift the operational norms and boundaries of possibility for Boston politics.
Second, Tuesday night saw success in candidates who started early and ran strong volunteer programs. In Boston, Kendra Hicks won by just under 3,000 votes against an opponent who ran an inflammatory, racist campaign. Councilor-elect Hicks, like Mayor-elect Wu, began running for office in the fall of 2020. Also like Wu, she ran an aggressive voter contact program that effectively inoculated voters against her opponent’s tactics. This success would not have been possible without early support from community members and advocates who believed in her vision.
Third, we continue to see historic wins for underrepresented communities. Of Sierra Club’s endorsed candidates, Michelle Wu will become the first woman of color Mayor in Boston; Tania Fernandes Anderson will be the first Black Muslim woman on Boston City Council; and Vietnamese refugee and youth worker Thu Nguyen will be the first southeast Asian councilor in Worcester and first non-binary person elected to public office in Massachusetts.
Fourth, voters want to have a larger say in key parts of democratic processes. In Boston, Ballot Question 1, endorsed by Sierra Club, passed with 67% of the vote. The initiative will allow the City Council to amend the Mayor’s budget as well as create a participatory budgeting process in which residents can propose and vote on how the City spends a portion of its budget. There were several other ballot initiatives that the Sierra Club did not consider for endorsement but also represented this trend, including Boston’s Ballot Question 3. The question passed with strong support and represented a non-binding vote to move from a mayoral-appointed to directly elected school committee. Similarly, in Cambridge, there were 3 ballot questions that represented a shift of power toward elected representatives and away from a centralized power - in this case, the City Council-appointed City Manager. The questions asked residents if the directly elected City Councilors should have more say in city processes, including: oversight of appointments to boards and commissions, an annual review of city manager’s performance, and a recurring process to review and update the city charter every 10 years. These each passed with 69% or more of the vote. This desire for decentralized power and transparency reflects the values of our campaign for greater transparency in the Massachusetts statehouse.
Finally, and perhaps most instructively for 2022, we saw again the power of incumbency coupled with the possibility brought by open seats. Among all the races we endorsed, 92% of seats were won by an incumbent. At the same time, of our endorsed newcomers running for open seats, 75% won on election night. This has important implications for 2022, which will be the first year after the 2020 census and redistricting. Redistricting happens once every ten years as the result of a new census with new population counts. The new city and legislative maps will be finalized by the end of 2021 and will be used in the 2022 elections. Redistricting will draw new districts without sitting legislators as well as districts that contain two current legislators. It will potentially also increase the competitiveness of districts. With redistricting comes a larger-than-usual turnover in seats, and therefore more open seats and more possibility. The results on Tuesday night reaffirm the opportunity redistricting will give us to elect new environmental champions.
It was also a good night for environmental justice in Boston and Maine. Boston voters overwhelmingly advised regulators to relocate a proposed East Boston electrical substation that had been unanimously approved to be cited along the Chelsea Creek. Environmental justice ally Greenroots has been strongly opposed to this infrastructure project in an environmental justice residential neighborhood, citing safety and climate concerns.
In Maine, voters agreed with the Sierra Club’s position to reject the Central Maine Power corridor (CMP) through a ballot question. This decision by our neighbors to the north will potentially have large repercussions for Massachusetts, which has been eyeing ways to source Quebecois hydropower for years. The CMP was the final effort to achieve this vision. Mainers' vote ordered the legislature to revoke all permits for CMP and raise the threshold for approval of such projects to ⅔ of the legislature. Quebecois hydropower has long been seen by Governor Baker’s administration as a key component of meeting the requirement to raise the amount of renewable energy used by Massachusetts. In 2016, faced with the prospect of legal defeat over inaction on climate change, Governor Baker introduced and signed into a law a bill that required utilities to procure 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy. While this energy could have included wind and solar, the final regulations and the utilities heavily favored hydropower. The bid was ultimately awarded to Hydro-Quebec. You can read more on why the Sierra Club opposes this project here. In Maine, a hatred for Central Maine Power combined with environmental activism has temporarily halted the construction of the corridor. The Baker administration has yet to comment on how they will proceed but Central Maine Power is appealing to the courts to overturn the vote.
Finally, there are still several races that are undecided and need your support! In Framingham, Sierra Club-endorsed sitting Council Vice President Adam Steiner led 995-992. And in Chelsea, former executive director of environmental justice organization Greenroots, Maria Belen Power, lost on election day by 4 votes. There will undoubtedly be recounts in both of these elections. Please support Maria Belen in her recount efforts here.
And contact jess.nahigian@sierraclub.org if you are interested in volunteering to observe the recount for Councilor Steiner.
Ok, if you made it this far and are wondering, which Sierra Club candidates won?? Who lost?? Here are your answers:
In Cambridge, all Sierra Club-endorsed incumbents were re-elected except for Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, who finished one place too low. This included Patty Nolan, Marc McGovern, Sumbul Siddiqui, and Quinton Zondervan. Sierra Club’s endorsed challengers, Theodora Skeadas and Nicola Williams, were unsuccessful.
In Leominster, Andrea Freeman lost her bid for mayor 5,059-1,997. Her thorough defeat was part of a larger Leominster wave against pro-science candidates.
In Medford, Justin Tseng will join Nicole Morrell on Medford City Council. David Todisco finished just short in 8th place.
In Malden, Sierra Club-endorsed Ward 3 incumbent Amanda Linehan won and at-Large newcomers Carey McDonald and Karen Colón Hayes came in second and third respectively. Nate Bae Kupel fell short, 465-385.
In Marlborough, Laura Wagner and Samantha Perlman were re-elected.
In Newton, all of the 7 Sierra Club-endorsed candidates were re-elected to City Council: Alicia Bowman, Alison Leary, Andrea Kelley, Andreae Downs, Bill Humphrey, Deb Crossley, and Emily Norton will be returning to City Council.
In Somerville, newcomers Willie Burnley Jr. and Charlotte Kelly will represent Sierra Club’s goals in their new at-large seats on City Council.
In Springfield, Jesse Lederman and Zaida Govan were re-elected to City Council.
In Worcester, climate organizer Etel Haxhiaj and Thu Nguyen will be joining the City Council.