The confetti had barely left the cannon on election night by the time speculation was underway about the next race.

The elevation of Dorchester’s Marty Walsh to the mayor’s seat in City Hall means there will be a House seat vacancy within the 13th Suffolk District next year. Inside the Park Plaza Hotel’s ballroom that night, there was already talk about who might be interested in replacing Walsh, a Democrat and labor leader in union-rich Dorchester. Walsh has served in the House for 16 years, winning the job in 1997 in a special election after Jim Brett, another Dorchester guy who ran for mayor but received different results, decided to take a job with the New England Council.  Read more

If sea level rise projections become reality and high tides a century from now resemble what today are major floods, the Aquarium Blue Line Station would likely be underwater while across the harbor the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital will be better prepared to weather frequent incursions of harbor water, according to Boston Harbor Association Executive Director Julie Wormser.

“By mid-century, every year the T’s going to have to deal with a foot and a half of seawater. By the end of the century it’s dealing more with five feet of seawater,” said Wormser, who said the Aquarium Station would need to be moved.  Read more

When it comes to beer, wine and liquor licenses, the Legislature is being asked to step aside and relinquish some control.

Lawmakers on Tuesday heard from craft beer brewers who want changes to a law they say "handcuffs" them in their ability to compete because of unbreakable ties to wholesalers. Municipal officials appealed to remove control of liquor licenses from the state and give it to local officials. And wine drinkers want to lift a ban on direct wine sale shipments to consumers.  Read more

Mayor Menino and Mayor-elect Walsh: Walsh admits to some nerves on Tuesday evening, but says: "I just got a feeling." Photo courtesy Mayor's OfficeMarty Walsh arrived at the Park Plaza Hotel around 6 p.m. on Election Night and headed up to the 15th floor. For the first time during that day, he was nervous. West Roxbury, Beacon Hill and Back Bay, friendly turf for his opponent, John Connolly, had seen a high number of voters turn out.

Inside the hotel room, he was joined by his mother Mary, his brother John, his longtime partner Lorrie Higgins and her daughter Lauren, and his campaign manager Meg Costello. Walsh kept in touch with his campaign workers, who were crunching numbers inside the "boiler room" and keeping him updated.

Walsh showered and focused on writing his victory speech. He didn't write a concession speech, believing that if he had to deliver one, he would speak from the "heart and head," he said. "At 7:30, I just got a feeling, a feeling came over me, that we were going to be okay," the state representative and labor leader from Dorchester recounted 48 hours later, inside his campaign office at 11 Beacon Street, steps from the State House. "And the nervousness went away."  Read more

Ayanna Pressley: Topped the at-large ticket once again.While men make up the vast majority of the City Council, it was two women –Dorchester’s Ayanna Pressley and newcomer Michelle Wu– who topped the ticket in the at-large race.

Another Dorchester woman, Annissa Essaibi-George, finished fifth. That’s not enough to earn a seat, but it does mean she will fill the shoes of any at-large councilor who decides against finishing his or her term.

Pressley was one of two incumbents running – the other was Stephen Murphy – and both were elected. Former City Councillor At-Large Michael Flaherty of South Boston won the other seat— about 10,000 votes ahead of Murphy, who finished fourth.

“The benefit of being an incumbent is to have a record to run on and I’m damn proud of mine,” Pressley said.  Read more

Election Night in Boston: A Tale of One City from Chris Lovett on Vimeo.

BNN-TV's Neighborhood Network News with highlights from Mayor-elect Marty Walsh's victory celebration at the Park Plaza on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013.

Marty Party: The mayor-elect celebrates with his partner Lorrie Higgins. Photo by Mike Deehan

It’s been a long time coming. Many skeptics thought it would never happen. And, yes, it could prove fleeting. But for one day in November 2013, residents of the city’s largest neighborhood put aside long-standing differences to elect one of their own to the most powerful job in Boston and, arguably, the state.

Marty Walsh didn’t win white Dorchester. He didn’t win black Dorchester. He won Dorchester. Period. And he did it in convincing fashion, carrying more than 60 percent of the vote in his home neighborhood.

Yes, he did better in “white” neighborhoods than he did in “majority-minority” precincts. His seaside House district was always going to be his Fort Knox. But who would have guessed that Marty Walsh – who until six weeks ago had never appeared on a ballot west of Washington Street – would score decisive wins in Four Corners, Grove Hall, Lower Mills, and Mattapan Square.  Read more

Walsh for Boston : Reporter 2013 mayoral election coverHe survived cancer, a stray bullet, and is a recovering alcoholic. He rose from local political operative to State House lawmaker. And on Tuesday, Savin Hill’s Marty Walsh, 46, won the first open race for mayor in 30 years, becoming the first mayor from Dorchester since the John B. Hynes era of the 1950s.

Aided by a strong field organization, the endorsements of elected officials of color, union members, and millions in outside spending, Walsh bested City Councillor At-Large John Connolly by nearly 4,900 votes, winning 52 percent (72,514 votes) to Connolly’s 48 percent (67,606 votes). With 140,680 casting votes, the turnout percentage for registered voters was 38 percent. In the east-versus-west matchup between Dorchester and West Roxbury, areas like Ward 18, which includes Hyde Park and Mattapan, became a crucial battleground.

Walsh won each of Ward 18’s 23 precincts, where a hotly contested district council race boosted turnout. He also chalked up critical wins in precincts that had been carried by candidates of color— John Barros, Felix Arroyo and Charlotte Richie— in the September preliminary election.

Related: Menino, Walsh meet at City Hall  Read more

Marty Walsh’s phone was ringing off the hook Tuesday night with congratulatory calls pouring in from Minneapolis to the White House. The only problem was the target of the calls wasn’t that Marty Walsh.

State Rep. Marty Walsh won the first open mayoral race in 20 years last night to become the next mayor of Boston, but when the White House, Vice President Joe Biden, the mayor of Minneapolis, and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz were looking for someone to congratulate, they called political consultant and former Edward Kennedy staffer Marty Walsh instead.  Read more

State Rep. Marty Walsh of Dorchester won the mayoral race with 72,514 votes, according to unofficial numbers from the city's elections department. City Councillor At-Large John Connolly of West Roxbury received 67,606 votes. The text of his speech, delivered at the Park Plaza Hotel on Nov. 5, 2013, is below as prepared for delivery.

Thank you, Boston! Thank you!

Thank you!

Let me tell you, my parents had big dreams for their kids....but I'm not sure they were this big!

I am so grateful and honored for tonight's result.