District 4 Councillor Charles Yancey will be facing a total of 14 challengers on the Sept. 24 ballot: 11 fellow candidates for mayor and 3 contenders for his district seat, which Yancey is also running for.

Yancey frequently defended his plan to run for both offices, which he is legally allowed to do, noting that Congressman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, ran for his Congressional seat and the vice presidency in 2012. Ryan retained his seat in Congress but lost as part of a ticket with former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.

But as the preliminary draws closer, Yancey has appeared to focus more on running for mayor, introducing himself at forums as a mayoral candidate and rarely mentioning that he is on the ballot twice. If elected to both, he can serve in only one public office and would have to choose.

“People are disappointed he ran for both,” said state Rep. Russell Holmes, a lawmaker who represents Mattapan in the state Legislature.
The other candidates on the District 4 portion of the ballot include Divo Rodrigues Monteiro, Steven Godfrey, and Terrance Williams.

All four candidates will be playing on new turf: The City Council last year revamped the district’s boundaries during a redistricting effort that occurs after every US Census report. Godfrey, who lived in District 5 and was represented by Councillor Rob Consalvo, is now in District 4 after his precinct was shifted over. Godfrey is the head of a Lynn-based nonprofit and waded into the race before the starting gun for the mayoral race was fired.

Monteiro has previously run for state representative and Williams has worked for Boston’s Water and Sewer Commission. Williams attended a Ward 16 Democratic Committee meeting last weekend in a bid to get their support, but the committee opted against endorsing in the race and instead focused on the mayoral scrum and the 19-person at-large Council field.

The top two vote-getters in District 4 on Sept. 24 will face off in the Nov. 5 final. Yancey, who has held the District 4 council seat since 1983, is widely expected to be one of them.