Senator Nick Collins, center, with supporters Mike Folan, left, and Shirley Shillingford, right, at his victory party on Tuesday night at Florian Hall. Seth Daniel photo
Reflecting on his 10-point primary win over first-time candidate Latoya Gayle on Tuesday, state Sen. Nick Collins says his success with voters in the First Suffolk District was powered by his long-standing work on multiple fronts his strong working relationships with colleagues in government.
Collins won 53.8 percent of the vote a low-turnout contest where every vote mattered, particularly since his opponent had the vocal backing of Mayor Michelle Wu and her potent political machine.
“I think you’re seeing the effort the mayor put forward with third parties and the fact is the candidate matters, a record matters, and you can’t just drop in a proxy,” he said. “A candidate has to be someone the community knows and trusts and has a record and will be an independent voice for the district. There always need to be hard debates. I think people in Dorchester remember those debates with Mayor Menino over closing libraries and pools…Debate is healthy.”
Gayle, a Dorchester resident who is a non-profit lobbyist, performed very well in many corners of the district and had strengths buoyed by her own campaign volunteers, Wu’s fundraising help and ground troops. A full breakdown of precinct-by-precinct results has not yet been made available by city officials, but Collins insists there were no blowouts – including in new areas of the district like the South End where Mayor Wu is popular and well-regarded.
Carlos Silvidra, Ronaldo Monteiro and Paulo DeBarros, president of the Cape Verdean Association of Boston, with Sen. Collins. Seth Daniel photo
“This showed we have strong support in every corner of the district,” he said. “[Gayle] had strengths and was really strong in some places, but there wasn’t a place where we didn’t compete. That’s also true for places that are new to the district. The Ward 4 Democratic Committee endorsed my opponent, and I won Ward 4. We pretty much matched the vote in Chinatown where Mayor Wu has a lot of influence.”
In an era when social media is essential in combination with kitchen table politics, and online commercials play a bigger role than they did in the past, the two candidates used those platforms differently. Though many expected Collins to go negative on Mayor Wu and Gayle, his campaign stayed positive and focused on issues and ideals, he said.
Some of Gayle’s literature and ads, Collins felt, portrayed him as a villain beholden to corporate interests. His observation is that voters were turned off by that approach.
“A positive campaign about your ideals works here; you can’t go negative and dump on people and expect to flip a switch and deliver a positive message because that isn’t how it works,” he pointed out.
Collins’s approach was evident in in his victory speech at Florian Hall, where a diverse mix of supporters assembled from across the district. Some might have expected a reference to his opponents, including the mayor. Instead, he spoke more about “gratitude and humility.”
“Some people want to see us spike the football, but I don’t do this for petty reasons,” he said. “I don’t recommend you get into politics and service if it’s about the person or ego because it’s a marathon and you have to endure. I’m willing to work with people that collaborate and compromise to get things done. I reserve the right to continue to have debate with other elected officials.”
He paused, “It’s also important to not be a sore winner.”
Another key to the contest was the coalition he built across the district, not just in his home base of South Boston – which did help propel him to a win, but didn’t turn out in large numbers. He pointed to the many elected officials of color, including Councillors Brian Worrell and Miniard Culpepper, as well as state Reps. Chynah Tyler and Chris Worrell, and former elected officials Marie St. Fleur and Linda Dorcena Forry, who is also co-publisher of The Reporter. Diverse union groups like SEIU 1199 and SEIU 509 who support his re-election should also be considered, he noted.
Sen. Collins addressed supporters on Tuesday night. Seth Daniel photo
That was combined with long-time elected officials that are not of color, such as Councillors John Fitzgerald, Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn and state Reps. Dan Hunt and David Biele. One also couldn’t overlook the support of elected officials from outside the district, including Charlestown state Sen. Sal DiDomenico and state Rep. Dan Ryan.
“Nick has been a long-time friend of mine and someone I work well together with and he’s someone that just gets the job done in the state Senate,” said DiDomenico. “Nick’s an independent thinker and stands up and fights for what he believes in. He deserved to be back in the state Senate…I was by his side in the campaign, and we had our whole crew out there helping him because we knew he was the right person for the job.”
But Collins said elected official support shouldn’t overshadow the community leaders and grass-roots groups that have been loyal to Collins for years, including Paulo DeBarros at the Cape Verdean Association of Boston, Shirley Shillingford of the Caribbean American Carnival Association of Boston, Ken Mercury of the Mt. Horeb Lodge in Dorchester and Hung Goon from the Chinatown community.
“I trust Nick because of what he’s done and what he’ll continue to do,” said DeBarros. “I’m very thrilled and happy it came out this way. He’s always been there from day one, but really since Covid he’s been a big supporter not only for the Cape Verdean community but also for Bowdoin-Geneva families and young people…It was a good challenge, but this shows the community is behind Nick. It’s important to let him continue to do the work, and especially around public safety.”
Added long-time resident Kevin George of the Polish Triangle: “I am not necessarily a big political guy, but I got involved with Nick Collins campaign as I have in the past because I know first-hand that Nick is constantly advocating and fighting for the residents of the Polish Triangle as well as all of his constituents…I don’t often see that combination in politicians so that is why I worked hard to keep Nick in office.”
Collins said his efforts on behalf of constituents across the First Suffolk were key to his support at election time. He mentioned his support for the Fieldhouse+ project, the Fairmount Line electrification push, Morrissey Boulevard reconfiguration, Carney Hospital redevelopment as a few examples.
“You don’t get named the Grand Master of the Caribbean Carnival as the first person ever from South Boston because you hang with a linear group of people,” he laughed. “That’s a coalition we had that withstood the mayor’s efforts. You need to bring the community along and be motivated to engage. Just because you declare something and say we need it – good luck getting that done unless you bring people in the community along.”
One issue that wasn’t mentioned during his celebration on Tuesday night was his opposition to parts of Mayor Wu’s property tax relief proposal. Collins has opposed Wu’s approach to shift more tax burden to commercial properties noting that he believed it backfired decades ago when late Mayor Tom Menino implemented such a shift for one year with mixed results. The issue sparked a public feud between Wu and Collins and clearly fueled Wu’s strong backing of Gayle, who frequently raised the matter on the campaign trail.
Collins said a new version of the mayor’s proposal still exists, minus the commercial tax shift, in front of a legislative conference committee and he thinks it’s good policy.
“The mayor’s tax proposal isn’t sitting at the State House as is often said,” he noted. “It was rejected, and we passed a revised version of it. At this point, the compromise version is before a conference committee and has 75 percent of the mayor’s Home Rule Petition in it, which seems like a good compromise.”
Collins will not have a Republican challenger in the November election.
