Mass Marrier points me to the Bay State Banner’s city election analysis grappling with the power Bostonian voters of color now exert. They’re cautiously optimistic, emphasis on caution:
While Flaherty walked out of West Roxbury with 53 percent of the vote, Arroyo came out with just 27 percent of the votes from the 9,093 voters who turnout out in that neighborhood. In Roxbury, on the other hand, Arroyo garnered an impressive 71 percent of the vote while Flaherty walked away with votes from 36 percent of the 7,032 voters.
Thus, the white enclaves still rule the city. While no at-large candidate can prevail in a Boston election without at least a small percentage of the West Roxbury vote, candidates like Flaherty and Stephen Murphy, who consistently finish at or near the bottom of the list in black and Latino votes can still finish at the top of the citywide vote.
Let me rewrite that paragraph:
Thus, the non-white enclaves still rule the city. While no at-large candidate can prevail in a Boston election without at least a small percentage of the Roxbury vote, candidates like Arroyo and Yoon, who consistently finish at or near the bottom of the list in traditionally Irish neighborhoods, can still finish at the top of the citywide vote.
I don’t mean to be flip. It’s just that the situation that the candidates of color face is not all that different than the candidates with the Irish surnames and political pedigrees. Each has its base, and a coalition of other voters to join in, and currently the at-large candidates are split two-and-two. Neither the old majority or the new majority quite rule the city.
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