Candidates lining up for City Council races

With incumbent City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson facing federal charges that an employee kicked back part of a salary bonus to her, it’s no surprise that the District 7 seat she currently represents has more challengers than any other Council race in Boston.

So far, seven challengers have either filed with the Office of Campaign and Public Finance (OCPF) or otherwise made public their intention to run for the seat. They are:

·       Said Abdikarim, director of policy advocacy and civic engagement for African Community Development of New England, is making his second run for a Council seat, having run at-large in 2021. He has raised more than $25,000 since December.

·       Said Ahmed, executive director of United Somali Youth and deputy director of the Somali Development Center, launched a campaign for the 7th Suffolk District last year, but did not appear on the ballot. This year he has so far raised more than $35,000 in his bid to unseat Fernandes Anderson.

·       Mavrick Afonso, the director of external affairs at the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, has not yet reported contributions in his campaign account, which he opened in February.

·       Samuel Hurtado, who served as an aide and advisor to former Mayor Kim Janey and now is the city’s Supplier Diversity business manager, launched his campaign in January and reported $9,580 in contributions as of February 28.

·       Tchad Cort, a business owner and transportation specialist with Boston Public Schools, filed with OCPF earlier this month. She has not yet reported campaign contributions.

·       Natalie Juba-Sutherland, a client service associate with Bank of America, filed with OCPF this month and has not yet reported campaign contributions.

·       The Rev. Miniard Culpepper, who in 2022 ran for the 2nd Suffolk District state Senate seat and placed fourth out of five candidates.

Fernandes Anderson has not yet confirmed whether she will run for reelection. Also not to be discounted is the Rev. Roy Owens, a perennial candidate who in the 2021 preliminary balloting came in second to Fernandes Anderson, with 1,300 votes.

Owens, whose campaign tactics include driving through the district with a megaphone atop his car and distributing photocopied campaign literature with fanciful fabrications about his opponents, demonstrated one of the features of an eight-way race: The more candidates running, the fewer votes one needs to make it past the preliminary. Such a dynamic can favor candidates with a small, loyal base.

At-large

The incumbent -large candidates are (in order of the number of votes they received in the 2023 election) current Council President Ruthzee Louijeune, Erin Murphy, Julia Mejia and Henry Santana.

Also running are challengers Alexandra Valdez, director of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs; Café Ula co-owner Marvin Mathelier; Will Onuoha, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Fair Housing and Equity and Reggie Stewart, a director of community relations for the City of Boston. Potentially in the running is former District 3 Councilor Frank Baker, who last week reportedly told sources he is considering the at-large race.