The 2013 Boston mayoral election occurred on Tuesday, November 5, 2013. Incumbent mayor Thomas 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.
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 &amp; 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.
Without an incumbent seeking reelection, this made the 2013 election the first open election since 1984, thirty years earlier. Menino did not endorse a candidate.
Candidates.
Results.
Walsh defeated Connolly by a narrow margin of 3.5%, with Connolly conceding and stating he believed Walsh would be a successful mayor. There were a total of 560 write-in votes, the largest recipient of these being baseball player David Ortiz.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 15em" |Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em" |Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em" |Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em" |%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
References.
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