The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston,Massachusetts,United States. It is made up of 13 members:9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no limit on the number of terms an individual can serve. Boston uses a strong-mayor form of government in which the city council acts as a check against the power of the executive branch,the mayor. The council is responsible for approving the city budget;monitoring,creating,and abolishing city agencies;making land use decisions;and approving,amending,or rejecting other legislative proposals.
Tito Jackson is an American politician who was a member of the Boston City Council. He represented council District 7,representing parts of the Roxbury neighborhood and parts of Dorchester,South End,and Fenway. In 2017,he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Boston against incumbent mayor Marty Walsh. After leaving the Boston City Council,Jackson worked in the cannabis industry. In 2022,Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appointed Jackson to the city's Commission on Black Men and Boys.
Michelle Wu is an American politician serving as the mayor of Boston,Massachusetts,since 2021. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants,she was the first Asian American woman to serve on the Boston City Council,from 2014 to 2021,and acted as its president from 2016–2018. She is the first woman and first non-white person to have been elected mayor of Boston. At 36 years of age,she is also the youngest individual to have been elected to the position in nearly a century. Wu is a member of the Democratic Party.
Andrea Joy Campbell is an American lawyer and politician who is serving as the attorney general of Massachusetts. Campbell is a former member of the Boston City Council. On the city council,she represented District 4,which includes parts of Boston's Dorchester,Mattapan,Jamaica Plain,and Roslindale neighborhoods. A member of the Democratic Party,she was first elected to the council in November 2015 and assumed office in January 2016. She served as president of the council from January 2018 until January 2020. Campbell unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Boston in 2021,placing third in the nonpartisan primary election behind Annissa Essaibi George and Michelle Wu,the latter of whom would go on to win the general election.
Lydia Marie Edwards is an American attorney and politician. She served as a member of the Boston City Council from the 1st district from 2018 to 2022 and has served as a member of the Massachusetts Senate from the 1st Suffolk and Middlesex district since 2022. She resigned from the Boston City Council at the end of April 2022.
Annissa Essaibi George is an American politician who served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council. First elected in 2015,she served on the council from 2016 to 2022. She was a candidate in the 2021 Boston mayoral election. She placed second in the nonpartisan primary,but was defeated in the general election by fellow city councilor Michelle Wu. Since November 2022,Essaibi George has served as the president of the Board of Directors of the nonprofit organization Big Sister Boston.
Kim Michelle Janey is an American politician and community organizer who served as acting mayor of Boston for eight months in 2021. She served as president of the Boston City Council from 2020 to 2022,and as a member of the council from the 7th district from 2018 to 2022. As a black woman,her tenure as acting mayor made her the first woman and the first person of color to lead the city.
Frank Baker is an American politician who represents District 3 on the Boston City Council. He was first elected on November 8,2011.
The 2021 Boston mayoral election was held on Tuesday,November 2,2021,to elect the mayor of Boston,Massachusetts. Incumbent mayor Marty Walsh was eligible to seek a third term. However,he resigned as mayor on March 22,2021,after being confirmed as secretary of labor in the Cabinet of Joe Biden. This left the Boston City Council president,at the time Kim Janey,to hold the role of acting mayor until the victor of the election would take office.
Elizabeth A. "Liz" Breadon is a Democratic member of the Boston City Council who serves the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods of Boston,Massachusetts. Having emigrated from Northern Ireland,she was the first openly LGBTQ woman elected to Boston City Council.
Julia Mejia is an At-Large City Councilor in Boston,Massachusetts. Elected in 2019,Mejia is the first Latina elected to the council.
The 2021 Boston City Council election was held on November 2,2021. All thirteen councillors from the nine districts and four councillors at-large were up for election. Elections in Boston are officially nonpartisan.
Ruthzee Louijeune is an American politician and lawyer serving as president of the Boston City Council. She has been an at-large member of the Boston City Council since January 2022,and has served as the council's president since January 2024. She is the first Haitian-American to serve on the council.
Ricardo N. Arroyo is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Massachusetts. He was previously a member of the Boston City Council.
Edward M. Flynn is an American politician currently serving on the Boston City Council,representing the city's 2nd district. He has held his seat since January 2017. From January 2022 until January 2024,he served as president of the Boston City Council. He is the son of former Boston mayor Raymond Flynn.
The municipal "Green New Deal" of Boston,Massachusetts in the United States is a Green New Deal policy agenda promoted by the Mayor of Boston,Michelle Wu. She first proposed it in August 2020 when she was a member of the Boston City Council. During Wu's mayoralty,which began in November 2021,she has implemented a number of environmental policies and projects in-line with the goals of her Green New Deal plan.
Michelle Wu,a Democrat,served as a member of the Boston City Council from January 2014 until becoming mayor of Boston in November 2021. Wu was first elected to the City Council in November 2013,and was re-elected three times. In 2016 and 2017,Wu served as the Council’s president.
Ayanna Pressley was first elected to the Boston City Council in November 2009 and served from January 2010 until joining the United States House of Representatives in January 2020. Upon being sworn in as a city councilor on January 4,2010,she became the first woman of color to serve in the Boston City Council up to that point.
Michelle Wu has served as mayor of Boston,Massachusetts since November 2021. Wu was elected mayor in 2021,winning with 64% of the vote,becoming the first woman,first person of color,and first Asian American elected to serve as the mayor of Boston. At 36 years of age,was also the youngest individual elected to the office in nearly a century. Wu is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to being sworn in as mayor,Wu served as a member of the Boston City Council
The 2025 Boston mayoral election will be held on Tuesday,November 4,2025,to elect the mayor of Boston,Massachusetts. Incumbent mayor Michelle Wu will be eligible to seek a second term.
