On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Jake Wilson was elected mayor of Somerville, earning 54.26% of the vote over Willie Burnley Jr. Voters also weighed in on three Somerville ballot questions — all of which passed — as well as a number of city council and school committee races.
“I’m looking forward to getting to work for the people,” Wilson said in a statement to the Daily on Election Night. “I’m going to go recharge my batteries over the next few days and then show up ready to do that planning work to make sure that we can hit the ground running on Day One in January.”
Burnley Jr. conceded the race at his watch party, congratulating Wilson on his strong campaign.
“Our campaign has always been the underdog in this fight … we didn’t have the personal wealth to put us over the top,” Burnley Jr. said. “All we had was each other and the audacity to believe that we could make our community better by fighting relentlessly for people’s basic needs.”
Wilson celebrated his victory at La Brasa restaurant, surrounded by supporters, including former Somerville mayor Joseph Curtatone, who served for 18 years.
“Jake [Wilson] has a clear understanding of the importance of public administration — the functions it serves and how it impacts people’s lives,” Curtatone said. “He’s got the right value set for the city, and that’s what you want in a leader.”
Wilson told the Daily the first thing he plans to do in office is “open and unlock the mayor’s office door,” a promise of transparency that he believes will alleviate “a source of frustration for people.”
Wilson’s supporters expressed excitement about his open-door policy.
“His office hours will be open-door for anybody in the city to come through with any concerns,” Ward 1 Resident Deirdre Grace said when asked what Wilson policy she was most excited about. “He’ll be available and always in connection with the City of Somerville.”
Somerville voters also passed all three ballot initiatives on Tuesday night.
Question 1, which proposed changes to the city charter regarding annual audits, budgeting and charter review, passed by a landslide 83.46%. Question 2, which proposed extending the mayoral term from two to four years, passed by a slimmer margin of 53.63%.
Ward 7 School Committee Member Leiran Biton said he voted in favor of both measures.
“I publicly endorsed Question 1 along with … almost every other sitting elected official in Somerville. It’s well time we had a new charter that reflects modern values,” Biton said. “There’s areas that are divisive, but this was not one of them.”
That divisiveness, he noted, surrounded Question 3 — a non-binding measure asking whether the city should “end all current city business and prohibit future city investments and contracts with companies as long as such companies engage in business that sustains Israel’s apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine.” The measure passed with 55.74% of the vote.
The question faced strong opposition, including from Somerville United Against Discrimination, which filed — and lost — legal challenges seeking to remove it from the ballot.
Biton, who voted against the measure, said the question would likely bring up legal challenges for the city. Wilson, who expressed concerns about the proposal during a mayoral debate, said the issue “might be best pursued at the state level, given the fact that the central asks for this are not allowed under the law. I can’t support it as written.”
Somerville resident Melinda Green said she voted for Burnley Jr. in part because of his vocal support for Question 3. “Support on Ballot Question 3 was a big thing for me. I don’t care if it’s illegal or not — I think it’s [about] just [doing] the right thing,” she said.
Jonathan Link and Ben Wheeler will assume the two open positions for city councilor at large, joining incumbents Kristen Strezo and Will Mbah. Wheeler was the second-highest vote-getter in the election, while Link placed fourth.
Wheeler wrote in a statement to the Daily that he looks forward to finding ways to address federal challenges. Link listed streamlining the housing development process, creating safe routes to schools and beginning work on the Winter Hill Community Innovation School project among his priorities.
In other city council races, incumbent City Councilor Naima Sait beat challenger Jason Mackey in Ward 5 and Emily Hardt won over Wilbert Pineda in Ward 7.
Hardt will replace Judy Pineda Neufeld, who resigned from the city council this summer. Hardt wrote in a statement to the Daily that her first priority in office will be addressing the housing affordability crisis.
Other races included School Committee Ward 2, where Elizabeth Eldridge defeated incumbent Ilana Krepchin, and School Committee Ward 3, where Michele Lippens defeated Jessie C. Ratey.
Eldridge, chair of the Somerville Special Education Parent Advisory Council, highlighted in her campaign that more than half of Somerville students are struggling to meet grade-level expectations under current leadership. She drew support from families across the city, particularly those with children navigating disabilities.
Lippens, a former special educator, wrote in a statement to the Daily that she is eager to continue the district’s phased approach to supporting inclusion and equity. She highlighted her enthusiasm for co-teaching policies and the use of early-release days for common planning and additional educator training.
