By Seth Daniel
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh scored decided victory in the downtown neighborhoods and throughout the city on Tuesday night, Nov. 7, over Councilor Tito Jackson, getting the reward of another four years in office to continue the work he started four years ago.
As the numbers go, citywide Walsh got 70,125 votes (65%) to Jackson’s 36,433 votes (34%). In the South End, Bay Village, Back Bay and Fenway, however, he beat Jackson by a larger margin, winning the 29 precincts by a vote of 8,805 to 4,164.
His best showing was at Cathedral High in the South End (3-7) where he scored more than 900 votes (911-297). At the Franklin Institute in 5-1, he had nearly 1,000 votes, winning 998-251. Jackson won only two of those 29 precincts, one at Simmons College in Fenway and another that encompasses Worcester Square and Orchard Gardens.
With a crowd gathered at the Fairmount Copley Hotel in the Back Bay, Walsh delivered a keynote address about what he intends to do in the next four years – highlighting his personal story, some of his supporters and the campaign staff as well.
“Four years ago, my dream came true: you chose this son of immigrants to serve the city we love,” he said. “I said then: we are in this together. Every neighborhood. Every race and religion. Every woman, every man, and every child. I meant it, and we proved it.
We created 70,000 new jobs together. We built 22,000 new homes together. We expanded pre-kindergarten, added learning time, raised the graduation rate, and improved our schools—together. We made our neighborhoods safer together. And together we led the nation in women’s advancement, recovery services, arts policy, and protecting the environment.
“After four years of hard work, I believe it more deeply than ever: when we come together, Boston, anything is possible,” he continued. “Today we made a choice to move forward together: to continue the historic progress we’ve made in the last four years, and to work even harder, to achieve even more for the city we love.”
Councilor Jackson said in his concession speech that the race was not about the two men running, but rather about striving for a more equal Boston.
“I’m not going away,” he said. “We need to make certain that a life on Blue Hill Avenue or Columbia Road is as valuable as a life on Commonwealth Avenue or Beacon Street.”
Walsh’s speech stressed that he plans to invest more in public schools, with simpler grade configurations and more certainty for families. He also said he plans to modernize school buildings, something that is a key issue for families.
The mayor also alluded to the fight against homelessness and the opiate epidemic, which has been an especially pointed problem in the Worcester Square area of the South End.
“We’re going to keep tackling all the national challenges that limit opportunity in our city,” he said. “And we’re going to keep forging solutions that work for the people of Boston. On inequality, the environment, immigration, addiction: whatever happens in Washington, we’re going to move forward in Boston. We’re going to keep building a Boston for all of us. And we’re going to show what an America for all of us looks like.”
Citywide, Walsh won 208 of 255 precincts, and he also won more than 80 percent of precincts comprised mostly of people of color.
Meanwhile, the campaign said after the results came in that in the last five days, they had more than 2,000 volunteers knocking on 120,000 doors and making more than 200,000 phone calls.