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Photo above: Latoya Gayle addressed supporters inside Sweet Teez Bakery on Dorchester Avenue on Election night, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. Cassidy McNeeley photo
A little after 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, an emotional Latoya Gayle stepped into Sweet Teez Bakery on Dot Ave and was met with a round of applause and a line of hugs from volunteers and friends.
Moments later, she announced what many of the supporters already knew: Her campaign to unseat Senator Nick Collins in the First Suffolk district had fallen short.
“The results are not what we wanted, but that’s not why I’m crying,” a teary-eyed Gayle said. “I am still so grateful that we all came together, and we voted our values, and we lived our values, and we sent a message. It was not a landslide victory. We made him work.”
Later, as a full set of unofficial results were posted by the City of Boston, it was clear that Collins won by 10 points—53 percent to Gayle’s 43 percent for Gayle.
Juwan Skeens, who also ran, tallied just 2 percent.
Earlier in the night, as Gayle’s supporters watched her win important precincts in Dorchester, it was shaping up to be a much closer contest. She won precincts in Lower Mills, Fields Corner, Codman Square, and the Polish Triangle. But, about two hours after polls closed, with most results in hand, it was clear that Collins pulled well ahead of Gayle.
Among the supporters who gathered at the bakery and cafe at the DotBlock building was Ms. Shirley Jones, who is president of the Meeting House Hill Civic Association. “You made him sweat!” Jones yelled as Gayle spoke to the group.
Later, Jones said: “[Latoya] brought this community alive. She brought people to the poll. That was an energy that they had never seen. They have never had to face anything like that. [Collins] had to do all he could to stay in that seat. I believe she made him be a better senator.”
That sentiment was something Gayle mentioned in her remarks as well. Referring to Collins, she said, “He said that I made him be a better State Senator, and I hope that he means that.”
Later that night, Gayle told the Reporter that she felt challenging Collins and other incumbents was important.
“Massachusetts is famous for having uncontested races, and because of that, people really settle in because they think no one is watching. It means that the people who have volunteered to put themselves in these positions know that we’re watching them. And that we’re not going to make it easy for them to continue to ignore what we need and want,” she said.
Ann M. Walsh, who ran unsuccessfully for District 3 City Council in 2023, was one of Gayle’s biggest boosters and led a toast to the candidate at the gathering.
“To run is the only thing we can control,” said Walsh. “By running, we bring people together, we build community, we keep the fabric of Dorchester, South End, South Boston, Chinatown, Mattapan, we keep those communities seeing each other.”
Paulina Bastidas, a member of the 32BJ SEIU union that backed Gayle, said Gayle was “fighting against the high cost of rent, she’s fighting for the betterment of children, and we want someone who feels like they are part of the communities we come from.” [Frank Soults, a union official, translated Bastidas’s comments to the Reporter.]
She added: “It’s also important how she fights for the rights of immigrants. We know that as working people and immigrants, we are paying all our taxes and we are doing everything right, but we’re often being attacked. We want someone like Latoya who tries to show that we are all equal in every aspect.”
In her remarks, Gayle promised that she would keep fighting.
“This wasn’t a race about me; this was a race about us, and we’re still going to keep fighting for the things that matter to us,” she told the room. “I meant every word that I said on that campaign, and I care about all of you, and I care about our community and our city. We’re going to still fight, and we’re going to get him out of there one way or another.”
When the Reporter asked what’s next, Gayle, a senior director of advocacy and family partnerships at an early education nonprofit, said she would be heading back to work next week.
As for running for office in the future, she said: “I have no idea right now. Everybody here told me, ‘Ok, are we ready?’ They’re ready; they’re ready for me to go. My answer is, let me get a couple of hours of sleep.”
Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission.
