Nathan Metcalf, Yawu Miller, Seth Daniel, Cassidy McNeeley, and Bill Forry contributed to this report.
Less than one-quarter of Boston voters decided to stick with the existing slate of citywide councillors on Tuesday in a general election that was largely a replay of the September preliminary, minus the mayoral contest that saw Michelle Wu trounce her nearest opponent by 49 points.
The council’s sitting president Ruthzee Louijeune, who was re-elected to serve a third term, was once again the top vote-getter among the citywide councillors with 54,303 votes, with Julia Mejia in second place with 47,422 votes, according to unofficial results. Erin Murphy, a Dorchester resident who will serve her fourth term as a citywide delegate starting in January, earned 46,360 votes to finish third.
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The most closely watched contest was for the fourth and final slot on the citywide panel. Henry Santana, aided by an all-out push from his biggest supporter, Mayor Wu, cruised past his closest rival, Frank Baker, with 43,904 votes to Baker’s 28,346.
Baker, who served for a decade as the District 3 councillor, made a spirited run in his first citywide attempt, but fell short of Santana by 15,558 votes.
At Florian Hall on Tuesday night, the 57-year-old Dorchester native told a crowd of supporters that he was proud of his effort and grateful for their support.
Frank Baker addressed supporters inside Florian Hall on Nov. 4, 2025. Seth Daniel photo
“I’m proud of what we did. I feel good about where we are. We did good every place in the city,” Baker told the crowd just after 9 p.m. “Unfortunately, you know, you try and have a party and we won’t know election results till probably two or three o’clock in the morning, so… I’m going to go home and go to sleep.”
But about one hour later— at the popular Seaport restaurant and nightspot Grace by Nia—Wu announced Santana’s win as an “overwhelming, landslide” victory.
During an emotional victory speech after an impassioned introduction by Wu, Santana said: “Two years ago, the people of Boston took a chance on me, on an immigrant, raised in public housing in Mission Hill, who graduated from Boston Public Schools and got a city job. And tonight, I am so grateful to the thousands of residents of Boston who have placed their trust in me, again to carry their stories and their experiences into the heart of city government.”
“We had hundreds of volunteers over the course of this campaign,” Santana said. “We knocked on doors, made calls, held signs, and stood in the code all day today to help get our message out. We were outspent at every stage of this campaign, but we showed the people of Boston again tonight that Boston cannot be bought.”
Roughly one in four eligible Boston voters turned out on Tuesday. Wu ran unopposed after her primary opponent, Josh Kraft, dropped out after Wu outpolled him 72 percent to 23 percent in the preliminary.
On Tuesday, without an opponent on the ballot, the mayor won 93 percent of the ballots cast— 78,384 in total.
Wu’s considerable campaign machinery was in evidence on Tuesday across the city as she mobilized with particular emphasis on Santana, an ally, who was seen as the most vulnerable of the incumbents.
The ticket-topping result was another accomplishment for Louijeune, who celebrated with Wu and Santana in the Seaport.
In a statement, she said: “I am deeply grateful to the residents of Boston for once again placing their trust in me to serve our city. Topping the ticket again reflects the strength of our communities and our shared commitment to a more just and inclusive Boston where all can thrive.”
The election was a relatively low turnout event.
As of noon, roughly 13 percent of eligible voters had shown up or voted early, according to city Election officials. That figure inched up to 14.8 percent by 3 p.m., with just 63,948 voters checked off the list.
By 6 p.m., the turnout was at 19.5 percent, or 84,250. The top voting precinct in the city as of 6 p.m. was Florian Hall at 49 percent.
It is not yet clear if the participation rate had matched, exceeded, or fallen short of the September preliminary turnout, which was roughly 22 percent— or 93,854 total voters.
Secretary of State William Galvin said that early indications showed the Boston Election Department “on a good path” following a year of reforms prompted by ballot distribution failures during the 2024 general election.
“We’ve had a lot of activity over the past year. We’ve improved practices,” he said. “Mr. [Michael] Sullivan, the receiver, is very satisfied.”
Boston’s elections have been under state receivership since February, when Galvin ordered outside oversight after some polling places ran out of ballots last November. His office required the city to overhaul communication systems, retrain poll workers and adopt new procedures for monitoring ballot supply and machine issues in real time.
“The lesson learned is when you have good practices, you have good results,” Galvin said, adding that the city’s polling locations were operating smoothly and that no major issues had been reported.
Reporting from State House News Service contributed to this report. Nathan Metcalf, Yawu Miller, Seth Daniel, Cassidy McNeeley, and Bill Forry contributed to this report.
Read more about the candidates and their positions here in a Reporter survey conducted earlier this year.
Sign holders and campaign supporters gathered outside of the polling place at Cristo Rey Boston High School in Savin Hill on Tuesday morning (Nov.4, 2025) to stir up excitement for their candidates. Here, Buddy Christopher and Roger Croke stump for Frank Baker, while Amaryllis Sanchez campaigns for Alexandra Valdez. Both candidates are running for at-large city council. Photo by Seth Daniel
The two candidates for District 7 city council were among the group shown here outside the Higginson Lewis School in Roxbury this morning. Miniard Culpepper (second from left) and Said Ahmed (second from right) were greeting voters along with State Sen. Liz Miranda, far left, and City Councillor-at-Large Julia Mejia (middle). Yawu Miller photo
