By Seth Daniel
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh scored decided victory in the Town and throughout the City on Tuesday night, Nov. 7, over Councilor Tito Jackson, getting the reward of another four years in office to continue the work he started four years ago.
As the numbers go, citywide Walsh got 70,125 votes (65%) to Jackson’s 36,433 votes (34%). In Charlestown, however, he beat Jackson by a larger margin, winning the seven precincts in the Town by a vote of 3,742 to 871.
His best showing in Charlestown was at the Edwards Middle School’s 2-6 precinct, where he won by 528 votes (671-143).
With a crowd gathered at the Fairmount Copley Hotel in the Back Bay, Walsh delivered a keynote address about what he intends to do in the next four years – highlighting his personal story, some of his supporters and the campaign staff as well.
“Four years ago, my dream came true: you chose this son of immigrants to serve the city we love,” he said. “I said then: we are in this together. Every neighborhood. Every race and religion. Every woman, every man, and every child. I meant it, and we proved it.
We created 70,000 new jobs together. We built 22,000 new homes together. We expanded pre-kindergarten, added learning time, raised the graduation rate, and improved our schools—together. We made our neighborhoods safer together. And together we led the nation in women’s advancement, recovery services, arts policy, and protecting the environment.
“After four years of hard work, I believe it more deeply than ever: when we come together, Boston, anything is possible,” he continued. “Today we made a choice to move forward together: to continue the historic progress we’ve made in the last four years, and to work even harder, to achieve even more for the city we love.”
Councilor Jackson said in his concession speech that the race was not about the two men running, but rather about striving for a more equal Boston.
“I’m not going away,” he said. “We need to make certain that a life on Blue Hill Avenue or Columbia Road is as valuable as a life on Commonwealth Avenue or Beacon Street.”
Walsh’s speech stressed that he plans to invest more in public schools, with simpler grade configurations and more certainty for families. He also said he plans to modernize school buildings, something that is a key issue for Charlestown families.
He alluded as well to what might be an issue coming soon to Charlestown once again, and that was about a priority to upgrade public housing. That translates in Charlestown to the renewed development review of the reconfigured One Charlestown project – which has gone silent and dormant since last June. “We’re also going to upgrade public housing for thousands of our most vulnerable families—even if Washington turns its back,” he said.
Citywide, Walsh won 208 of 255 precincts, and he also won more than 80 percent of precincts comprised mostly of people of color.
Meanwhile, the campaign said after the results came in that in the last five days, they had more than 2,000 volunteers knocking on 120,000 doors and making more than 200,000 phone calls.