The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston,Massachusetts,United States. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan,and elect a mayor to a four-year term;there are no term limits. The mayor's office is in Boston City Hall,in Government Center.
Thomas Michael Menino was an American politician who served as the mayor of Boston,from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three months in the position of "acting mayor" following the resignation of his predecessor Raymond Flynn. Before serving as mayor,Menino was a member of the Boston City Council and had been elected president of the City Council in 1993.
Maura A. Hennigan is an American politician who currently serves as the Clerk Magistrate of Suffolk County,Massachusetts,Superior Court Criminal/Business Division. She is a former member of the Boston City Council and was a mayoral candidate in 2005. From 1987 to 1993,she was known as Maura Hennigan Casey.
Michael F. Flaherty is a politician who served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council for a cumulative ten terms. A member of the Democratic Party,he was first elected to the council in 1999,serving an initial five terms between 2000 until 2010. During this initial tenure,he served as vice president of the council in 2001 and as council president from 2002 to 2006. In 2009 he forwent reelection to a further term in order to run for mayor of Boston in that year's election,which he lost to incumbent mayor Thomas Menino. He ran unsuccessfully in 2011 to return to the council as an at-large member. In 2013,Flaherty again ran in the at-large city council race,and was returned to the council. He served five terms between 2014 and 2024. In 2023,he declined to seek reelection to an additional term.
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.
The 2009 Boston mayoral election occurred on Tuesday,November 3,2009,between incumbent Mayor of Boston Thomas Menino,and Michael F. Flaherty,member of the Boston City Council and former Council president. Menino was re-elected to a fifth term,the first mayor to do so in Boston history. A nonpartisan municipal preliminary election was held on September 22,2009,where Flaherty and Menino advanced to the general election.
Althea Garrison is an American politician from Boston,Massachusetts who previously served a single term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1993–1995) and a partial term as an at-large councilor on the Boston City Council (2019–2020). She is considered the earliest transgender person known to have been elected to a state legislature in the United States. She was outed against her will by the Boston Herald after her 1992 election. She is a perennial candidate,having been an unsuccessful candidate for political office at least 44 times.
Charlotte Golar Richie serves as the senior vice president for public policy,advocacy and government relations for YouthBuild USA. She formerly served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and held other government positions. She was a candidate for the mayor of Boston in the 2013 election,placing third in the nonpartisan primary election.
The 2013 Boston mayoral election occurred on Tuesday,November 5,2013. Incumbent mayor Thomas Menino had declined to run for re-election to a sixth term. A non-partisan preliminary election was held on Tuesday,September 24,2013. 12 candidates made the ballot to replace Menino,with state representative Marty Walsh and at-large city councilor John R. Connolly advancing to the general election. Walsh was elected to his first term,defeating Connolly by 3% of the vote,and was inaugurated on Monday,January 6,2014.
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.
Nick Collins is an American politician who currently serves as a member of the Massachusetts Senate,representing First Suffolk District. Collins serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight and the Senate Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses. Additionally,he serves a member of the Senate Committee on Bills in the Third Reading,and a member on the Joint Committee's on Bonding,Capital Expenditures and State Assets;Mental Health,Substance Use and Recovery;and Public Service. He is a Boston resident and a Democrat. Elected into the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2010,he served four terms in the House representing the 4th Suffolk District.
Joseph McGrath was an American politician who served as acting Mayor of Boston during the tenure of James Michael Curley,Chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party,and Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston.
Elizabeth Miranda is a Cape Verdean-American community organizer and politician. She is a state senator representing the Massachusetts Senate's 2nd Suffolk district after winning a five-way Democratic Primary Election,and advancing to an uncontested race in the 2022 Massachusetts general election. Prior to that,since January 2019,Miranda had served as the Democratic Massachusetts State Representative for the Fifth Suffolk district. Her district comprises parts of the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. She is a member of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus.
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.
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 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.
Thomas Menino served as mayor of Boston,Massachusetts from 1993 through 2014. He is the longest serving mayor in the city's history. Menino first became acting mayor in July 1993,after Raymond Flynn resigned as mayor to assume the post of United States ambassador to the Holy See. Menino was elected mayor in the subsequent 1993 Boston mayoral election,and was reelected to additional terms in the four subsequent elections,making for an unprecedented and unsurpassed twenty year tenure. On March 28,2013,Menino announced that he would not seek a sixth term.
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.
Ayanna Pressley was first elected to the Boston City Council in November 2009,and served as an at-large member 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.
Erin J. Murphy is an American politician and educator who has served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council since December 2021. Murphy is a Democrat,and is considered one of the more politically moderate members of the council. In 2024,she unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in the election for clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court of Suffolk County.
