District 6 City Councilor Kendra Lara was defeated easily by the two challengers in Tuesday’s election — that means that challengers Ben Weber and William King will face each other on Nov. 7.
Jamaica Plain’s Weber got 4,810 votes, King netted 4,291, and Lara received 2,262. These stats are unofficial, and according to the Boston Open Election Results Portal, a nonpartisan collaborative effort by a number of groups that provide stats from tabulation machines at each precinct. The stats are from crowdsourced photos, and do not include all mail-in ballots.
Weber tweeted his thanks shortly after the polls closed:
Thank you District 6 voters for the faith you have put in me. I am thrilled by the support we received across every neighborhood in the district. Together, we can make Boston a place where my kids and everyones kids want to stay and raise their own families. Onto November!
— Benjamin Weber (@ben4district6) September 13, 2023
Lara conceded the race early on:
NEW: @CllrKendraLara concedes the Boston District 6 City Council race. “What a two years it’s been,” she says. A few supporters are here, they’re devastated but applauding her.
“When you fight the system sometimes the system fights back and today we lost this battle” #bospoli
— Lisa Kashinsky (@lisakashinsky) September 13, 2023
Lara, a first-term city councilor, was embattled due to a June 30 motor vehicle accident in which she crashed her car into a Centre Street home. While she got support from some local progressive groups, unions, state Rep. Sam Montaño (D-15th Suffolk), state Sen. Liz Miranda (D-2nd Suffolk) — the voters felt otherwise.
There are eight precincts in Ward 19, all in Jamaica Plain, and Weber won all of them. Weber netted 1,754 votes, followed by Lara with 852, and then King with 393. In Lara’s first election in 2021, Ward 19 Precinct 6 provided Lara’s highest vote total with 517, and in Tuesday’s election she only got 130.
In Ward 20, which is primarily in West Roxbury, and a little in Roslindale, the more conservative King took 3,530 votes, Weber took 1,943, and Lara 505. In 2021, Lara (who ran as Kendra Hicks), took 2,441 votes.
In Ward 10, there are four precincts part of District 6, and Weber netted 343 total votes, Lara took 281, and King got 138.
There are seven precincts in Ward 11 as part of District 6, and Weber netted 770 votes, Lara got 624, and King got 230.
