Rev. Miniard Culpepper addresses supporters at his election night party at Hibernian Hall as Samuel Hurtado looks on. Yawu Miller photo
When the results of the Sept. 9 preliminary rolled in, Said “Coach” Ahmed and Rev. Miniard Culpepper had eked out narrow victories in District 7, each with just over 15 percent of the vote. Over the next two months of campaigning, Culpepper was able to pull ahead, garnering endorsements from former rivals and elected officials.
With the athleticism honed during his days as a nationally ranked track star, Ahmed kept up a furious pace of door-knocking. In the end, though, it wasn’t enough to overcome the vast imbalance of community support Culpepper was able to call on.
After an introduction from former District 7 candidate Samuel Hurtado, Culpepper took the mic at Hibernian Hall Tuesday night and announced unofficial results that showed him 500 votes ahead of Ahmed. By Wednesday morning, the city’s unofficial election results showed Culpepper with 3,874 votes to Ahmed’s 3,275. There were 558 blank votes and 109 write-in votes in the district balloting.
“We did the work,” Culpepper told supporters. “We made the calls. We did it together. We knocked on doors. We struggled day in and day out to do the work in the field in the vineyards to sew a message of hope so that one day folks in District 7 will be able to believe that they can do the impossible and that there’s nothing that’s holding them back.”
While Culpepper was celebrating victory, Ahmed, addressing supporters at the Eritrean Community Center on Shawmut Avenue, said he was waiting for every vote — mail-in and absentee ballots included, before declaring a win or loss.
Said “Coach” Ahmed greets voters outside the Higginson-Lewis school in Roxbury. (Yawu Miller photo)
“Whether we win or lose, we gotta keep fighting,” he told the audience of East African, African American, and white supporters. “A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits.”
Early results showed Culpepper with a commanding lead in Ward 12 precincts as well as a modest lead in South End precincts. It was a reversal of preliminary results that showed Ahmed ahead of Culpepper in the South End.
State Rep. Chynah Tyler, who spent much of the day at the Dewitt Center in Ward 9, said high-profile supporters who covered polling locations helped sway undecided voters.
“A lot of people were undecided walking into the polls, but there were familiar faces meeting them,” she said.
Also benefitting Culpepper was support from groups like the Boston Teachers Union, which provided campaign volunteers.
“The BTU endorsement always brings communication with every BTU member in the district, supporters on the ground and on the phones,” said BTU President Erik Berg. “We provide volunteers to knock doors and reach as many voters as possible.”
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Culpepper rolled out endorsements from elected officials including US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, US Rep. Ayanna Pressley, state Sen. Lydia Edwards, state representatives Tyler and John Moran as well as former District 7 rivals Hurtado, Said Abdikarim, and Wawa Bell.
With Hurtado, the pair made a pact of mutual support before the preliminary. “I’ve known him for a long time,” Hurtado told The Reporter. “I like his experience with housing. It was the number one issue in my conversations with voters.”
Speaking to supporters, Culpepper said his former District 7 rivals, including Ahmed, made him a better candidate and will make him a better public servant.
“Robert Kennedy called politics an honorable profession, and I want to say to all of those who vied for District 7 that it was an honorable political contest. We may have differences on some issues, whether visions for affordable housing or cleaning up Mass. and Cass, but no one could doubt our unity in trying to address the issues and the challenges of our beloved city,” he said. “We all know that nothing gets done in this community without collective effort. And I look forward to drawing up all the wisdom of all of the candidates that ran in District 7.”
The two candidates for District 7 city council were among the group shown here outside the Higginson Lewis School in Roxbury on Nov. 4, 2025. 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
