Overview
- With all precincts reporting, unofficial totals show Jake Wilson at about 42%, Willie Burnley Jr. at 34% and Katjana Ballantyne at 23%, with roughly 100 absentee and overseas ballots still to be counted that are not expected to change the outcome.
- Ballantyne, first elected in 2021, conceded Tuesday night after finishing a distant third in the preliminary tally.
- Wilson campaigned on fixing what he called dysfunction at City Hall, prioritizing city services, street safety and rodent control, and committing to weekly office hours with residents.
- Burnley Jr., age 31 and a renter, proposes creating an Office of Social Housing and, if elected in November, would become Somerville’s first Black mayor and the first to openly identify as queer and polyamorous.
- The preliminary also narrowed other contests, with eight candidates advancing in the at-large council race and fields trimmed for the Ward 7 council and Ward 3 school committee seats ahead of the Nov. 4 general election.