This year’s field of candidates for at-large Boston City Council seats could make a strong case to be the deepest ever. Certainly the most diverse, it is unusually large and experienced.
The 15 hopefuls bring resumes bearing more than a century of combined service in government, politics, education, and community organizing and leadership positions with a host of nonprofit agencies. The Sept. 22 preliminary election will narrow the field to eight finalists, who will compete on the Nov. 3 general-election ballot to win the four at-large seats that represent all of Boston.
Compare that to 2007, when just nine candidates ran, prompting the city to cancel the preliminary election.
The promise of two open seats – two councilors at large, Michael F. Flaherty and Sam Yoon, are running for mayor – contributed to the flood of newcomers joining the two incumbents in the race, Stephen J. Murphy and John R. Connolly.
Among their 13 challengers, six are black, two are Latino, and one is Vietnamese-American. They are vying to join a council that has had two black, one Latino, and one Asian-American councilor at large in its history.
“I am energized and happy that Boston has this many quality candidates,’’ Connolly said. “It makes my job harder for reelection, but it’s a great thing.’’
JOHN R. CONNOLLY
Age: 36
Neighborhood: West Roxbury
Occupation: City councilor
Coming off of his first term, the former teacher and lawyer says he will work to make Boston a “more livable city, and that means safe streets, great schools, and sustainable neighborhoods.’’
As chairman of the council’s committees on education and on the environment, Connolly wants to create an environmental-sciences academy, a high school that would train students for “green-collar jobs’’ and prepare them to study environmental science and engineering in college.
The Harvard-educated Connolly has been in “full-blown campaign mode’’ on the trail, but he may not be standing out at the polls on Sept. 22: His wife is due to deliver their second child that day. “Win or lose, knock on wood, it will be a great night for me because I’ll have a healthy, happy Number 2, hopefully,’’ said Connolly, whose father, Michael J. Connolly, was secretary of state for 16 years.
