Political Newcomer Tops Boston City Council's Longest-Serving Member In Preliminary Election

The road to re-election will be tough this fall for the longest-serving member of the Boston City Council, as a political newcomer staged an upset in the District 4 preliminary election Tuesday.

Andrea Campbell, who was a deputy legal counsel for former Gov. Deval Patrick's administration, won the preliminary with nearly 60 percent of the vote.

With 1,982 votes of 3,422 ballots cast, Campbell topped veteran City Councilor Charles Yancey, who received 1,159 votes, according to unofficial election results.

Campbell has so far run a better-financed campaign than Yancey, who was first elected to the Boston City Council in 1983 and is currently seeking his 17th term.

Campbell and Yancey -- the top two vote-getters in the four-person District 4 race — will square off in the final election on Nov. 3.

In the only other contested council race Tuesday, Councilor Tito Jackson outdistanced his closest challenger, Charles Clemons, by a wide margin.

Jackson received 1,408 votes to Clemons' 381 votes, according to the unofficial election results. The two face off on Nov. 3.

Only 7 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls on Tuesday.

The last time there was a preliminary municipal election with just two contested districts was in 2007, and nearly twice as many registered voters — 13 percent — cast their ballots that year.

With reporting from WBUR's Delores Handy