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Campbell garners substantial lead in District 4 preliminary

Yawu Miller
Yawu Miller is the former senior editor of the Bay State Banner. He has written for the Banner since 1988.... VIEW BIO
Campbell garners substantial lead in District 4 preliminary
Cambell speaks at The Blarney Stone in Fields Corner

Oppressive heat, the first day of school and the day after Labor Day conspired to drive down turnout for the preliminary balloting in City Council districts 4 and 7. Yet, despite conditions that would ordinarily favor the incumbent, challenger Andrea Joy Campbell grabbed 57 percent of the 3,422 ballots cast in the three-way District 4 race with 1,982 votes to incumbent Charles Yancey’s 1,159 votes.

In District 7, incumbent Tito Jackson maintained a solid lead with 1,408 votes – 66 percent of the 2,121 ballots cast. Challenger Charles Clemons received 381 votes, Heywood Fennell 104, Althea Garrison 74, Roy Owens 34 and Kevin Dwire received 22.

Campbell attributed her strong showing in the polls her campaign’s get-out-the-vote effort.

“I’m absolutely, extremely humbled by the amount of time that residents gave to get-out-the-vote on a day that was difficult,” she said. “We still have a lot of work to do in November.”

Campbell’s campaign manager, Katie Prisco-Buxbaum, said she was able to deploy more than 100 volunteers Tuesday, most of whom were knocking on doors and making phone calls to supporters to remind them to turn out for the preliminary.

While Yancey’s campaign had volunteers manning polling places, Prisco-Buxbaum pulled volunteers out of polling places early on.

“We initially had people checking polls to see what the turnout would be,” she said. “By early afternoon, we pulled them off and put them on doors and phones.”

Get-out-the-vote Coordinator Nigel Simon said the campaign targeted frequent voters and made sure Campbell herself knocked on as many doors as possible.

“We door-knocked the entire district,” he said. “We let people know we were serious.”

Campbell will square off against Yancey again in the November 3 election. Jackson will face Clemmons. With five candidates for at-large councilor also appearing on the ballot, turnout will likely be higher than Tuesday’s preliminary.