2025 Politics Were Local

By John Drinkwater

As we close the book on 2025 and look ahead to 2026, I hope that everyone had an enjoyable holiday season, and I wish you and each of your families a healthy and prosperous new year.

2026 is shaping up to be a busy and important political year, but before looking at what’s ahead, let’s celebrate the hard work of District Council 35 members and staff who helped secure important electoral victories across our region. While this report can’t fully cover all the work that went into helping worker-friendly candidates, here is a recap of some notable results from the past fall’s local elections.

Boston 

While the 2025 Boston Mayoral race was relatively anti-climactic by the time voters went to the polls in November, with only Mayor Michelle Wu’s name on the ballot, the path to victory wasn’t always so simple. District Council 35 endorsed Mayor Wu early on, due to her proven record of pro-union governance. We got right to work knocking on doors and raising awareness ahead of Boston’s Preliminary Election in September. Despite facing multiple challengers, including the very well-funded Josh Kraft, on Preliminary Election night, Mayor Wu secured an overwhelming victory by 50 points, effectively ending the race early and allowing us to focus our attention on other important races in Boston and beyond.

In Boston, we were able to shift our focus to helping endorsed City Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, and Erin Murphy recapture their At-Large City Council seats. District Council 35 also supported former Councilor and longtime union ally Frank Baker in his bid to win an At-Large seat, but unfortunately, Frank finished just one spot behind all four incumbents who ran for re-election.

All eight District City Councilors who ran for re-election won with DC 35 support, and the one newcomer to the Boston City Council in 2026 will be Rev. Miniard Culpepper, who won the open seat for District 7. As always, we will strive to maintain positive working relationships with all members of the Boston City Council and Mayor Wu’s administration to ensure that our members’ interests are always represented at city hall.

Somerville 

Elsewhere in Greater Boston, the city of Somerville presented another highly important Mayoral race. In recent years, Somerville has not just undergone a building boom, but a union building boom, thanks to a pro-labor Mayor and City Council. This political transformation in Somerville did not happen by accident, but as a direct result of hard work put in by District Council 35, beginning with BM/ST Chris Brennan, who became deeply involved in Somerville politics as a Business Representative, and current Business Representative Rodrigo Badaro, a former Somerville resident who remains highly active in the Somerville community. So when incumbent Mayor Katjana Ballantyne did not advance to the November ballot following the September Preliminary Election, it was no surprise that Mayoral candidate and City Councilor Jake Wilson reached out seeking District Council 35’s support for November.

Following a positive and productive meeting with Councilor Wilson, in which he expressed support for Project Labor Agreements, we endorsed him as the best choice to continue Somerville’s pro-worker momentum. On Election night, we were thrilled to see that Jake Wilson won a decisive victory by a margin of more than 2,000 votes. We look forward to working with him to continue our great progress in the city of Somerville.

Brockton 

Brockton had significant strategic importance for District Council 35 this election season. With a wide-open Mayoral race, and Brockton poised to see pivotal upcoming construction work – most notably a new Brockton High School – it was critically important to educate the candidates on our issues and elect pro-labor candidates to office. On that front, the Brockton Building Trades Council, with Business Reps Rich Cabral and Mike Pickup leading the charge for DC 35, thoroughly vetted and interviewed all candidates running for office, and endorsed a slate of pro-worker candidates for Mayor and City Council. For Mayor, our choice was Moises Rodrigues, a City Councilor who pledged to pursue a Project Labor Agreement on the Brockton High School project. Following that endorsement, DC 35 staff and members blanketed Brockton with support for Moises and our labor-endorsed slate for City Council. On Election night, those efforts were rewarded, with Moises Rodrigues winning a narrow victory of just over 200 votes to become the next Mayor of Brockton, and all our endorsed candidates winning seats on the City Council.

Around the State 

A few other notable results where DC 35 got involved to help elect those who have helped us: In Revere, At-Large City Councilor Marc Silvestri regained a seat on the Council by just 13 votes. In Peabody, At-Large Councilor and Teamsters member Jon Turco, who is leading the charge for a Project Labor Agreement on the new Peabody High School, topped the ticket with strong labor support. And in Cambridge, a strong pro-labor majority was elected to the City Council, including endorsed newcomer Tim Flaherty.

Looking Ahead to 2026 – Jackson for Maine

In the coming year, DC 35 will have the incredible opportunity to elect one of our own – DC 35 member Troy Jackson – as the next Governor of Maine. Brother Jackson is a fifth-generation logger from Northern Maine who became an IUPAT member at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and served as a State Representative, State Senator, and President of the Maine State Senate. Throughout his time in elected office, Troy has always delivered for working people, and as Governor, he will deliver for the working families of Maine.

Stay tuned in the coming months for opportunities to help elect our Brother Troy Jackson as the next Governor of Maine, and to elect pro-worker candidates to tightly contested U.S. House and Senate races throughout our region.