Edwards Wins Close Race Against Passacantilli

East Boston’s Lydia Edwards was elected as the District 1 Boston City Councilor over the North End’s Stephen Passacantilli after a hotly contested race for the seat left vacant by City Councilor Sal LaMattina who did not seek reelection this year.

Edwards’s win makes her the first woman of color to ever be elected to seat since its creation in 1983.

Districtwide, which includes the neighborhoods of East Boston, the North End and Charlestown, Edwards emerged as the victor over Passacantilli. According to the unofficial results Edwards ended the night in District 1 with 6,897 votes (52.73%) to Passacantilli’s 6,167 votes (47.14%). Passacantilli had a good showing in his home neighborhood of the North End, winning 64 percent of the vote

In Charlestown Edwards topped the ticked as she did in the Preliminary. After all the votes were counted in the neighborhood Edwards received 2,552 votes to Passacantilli’s 2,179 votes.

In Eastie, Edwards topped the ticket with 3,416 votes and won 10 out of the neighborhood’s 14 precincts.

At her victory party at a packed Kelley Square Pub in Eastie Edwards thanked all her supporters from Eastie, the North End and Charlestown for all their hard work throughout the campaign.

“I can’t believe this, look at what we did,” said Edwards to the crowd. “Together we proudly made history tonight. I’m so proud of all of you. I thank you all so much. This is what a grassroots campaign looks like. This is the most beautiful room in Boston tonight. I see so many people whose hands I shook and doors I knocked on. I see so many colors and so many religions in this room.  It took all of us to show what a people’s campaign looks like. My heart is so filled is so filled with joy because we won going high, being positive and being inclusive.”

In the North End, Passacantilli won by 737 votes, but Edwards’s  victories in Eastie and Charlestown were too much to overcome.

In the At-Large City Council race the four incumbents, Michael Flaherty, Michelle Wu, Ayanna Pressley and Annissa Essaibi George were reelected to another term.