Breadon wins Boston City Council presidency in an upset

With a one-vote margin, Liz Breadon was named the new Boston City Council president Monday, providing a shock result to kick off the political year.

The Allston-Brighton district councilor got the nod at the body's first meeting of the year, following an intense session of behind-the-scenes wrangling. Breadon had not openly advocated for the job among her colleagues ahead of Monday's meeting.

She will succeed Councilor At-Large Ruthzee Louijeune in the role. Breadon, who lives in Brighton with her wife, has served as a councilor since 2020. She is the first openly gay woman to serve on the council, and she immigrated to the U.S. from Northern Ireland in 1995.

“I didn’t know I’d be standing here this time yesterday, but that said, I’m ready to lead. I feel that I can bring a certain mindset to this job,” she said during the contentious meeting.

Breadon won seven of the council's 13 votes for the job. District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell had six votes.

The vote was a startling reversal for Worrell, who woke up Monday as the perceived favorite for the post. The councilor, who represents parts of Mattapan, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, could be seen courting votes among fellow councilors during breaks in Monday's meeting. In one moment, he could be seen in an intense conversation with District 6 Councilor Ben Weber.

Weber in the end voted for Breadon, saying he hoped she would bring "calm" to the body. In making his vote, he decried the process for selecting a president.

"The last 24 hours has not been the finest on this council," Weber said during the meeting.

In a last minute pitch to his colleagues, Worrell laid out a vision for his presidency. He described boosting council communications with the public, closing inequity gaps, helping councilors better advocate for their district's priorities with budget staff and highlighted his independence.

While Breadon and Worrell have typically voted together, Worrell has built a reputation as a councilor who can work across the aisle with his more conservative colleagues.

When Breadon's victory was announced, Worrell joined the room in applause for her.

After the meeting, Worrell told reporters he was focused on moving forward and deflected questions about the last 24 hours.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve," he said.

Selecting a new council president is one of the first items on the agenda to kick off the new body's session. Every two years councilors are sworn into office for new or continuing terms. Most of the councilors are incumbents.

Aside from the fancy title and gavel, the council president presides over meetings and sets the agenda. They also serve as mayor when there's a vacancy in the city's top executive office. Kim Janey switched hats from council president to acting mayor in 2021, when then-Mayor Marty Walsh was nominated for secretary of labor by President Joe Biden.

Picking a council president is something of a black box in Boston politics. There's no open campaigning with the public; instead, councilors lobby and jockey amongst themselves in the interregnum between a November general election and their swearing in ceremony in January.

The stakes couldn't have been clearer Monday, as several councilors stood and bemoaned the back-room nature of the process while stumping for their preferred candidate.

In December, District 1 City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata had announced she had the votes to claim the role, saying she won commitments from the majority of the council. But the East Boston councilor abruptly changed her tune this past weekend, saying she was dropping out of contention.

Worrell and Councilor At-Large Julia Mejia had disputed Coletta Zapata's claim in December, and her late withdrawal left the race wide open. Breadon had not been seen as a potential candidate, but mustered the support of a bloc of councilors generally viewed as aligned with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Mejia on Monday expressed her displeasure in the process, saying Worrell was the only member who made a concerted effort to demonstrate leadership. She also said the last-minute nature of the Breadon candidacy was a reflection of how politics are done in Boston.

“If that does not alarm you as you decide what vote you’re going to make today … all eyes are on us,” she said.

Breadon said no one from the mayor's office called her, but councilors Enrique Pepén and Sharon Durkan did come to her house "quite late" Sunday night to make the pitch that she should be a "compromise candidate."

"This is my fourth term on the city council, so I have thought about it before and it just seemed like this door opened at the last moment and I had the support of other members of the council and I was honored to be asked to consider it," she said.