Mass. Attorney Elected NAACP Boston President

A Brockton attorney has defeated a longtime civil rights activist to become the next president of the Boston chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Unofficial results Monday showed that attorney Michael Curry edged out former state Sen. Bill Owens by fewer than 80 votes in the Boston's chapter's first contested election in a decade. Both candidates billed the election as a referendum on the future of one of the nation's oldest NAACP chapters.

The election was held Monday at Roxbury Community College. NAACP officials say it attracted nearly 500 members to vote.

The 43-year-old Curry is legislative affairs director for the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and succeeds Karen Payne, who stepped down earlier this year to run for state representative.