District 7

In the wake of District 7 Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson’s April 9 announcement that she will step down, a battle has begun over councilors’ bid to skip a special election to fill her seat.

The decision of City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson to plead guilty to federal corruption charges and resign at some point has set off a debate over whether the city should hold a special election to fill the District 7 seat representing Roxbury and parts Dorchester, the Fenway and the South End.

Since the December 6 arrest of District 7 City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson on federal corruption charges, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and five of her Council colleagues have called on her to step down.

As the results from precincts across District 7 trickled into her Nubian Square campaign office, Tania Fernandes Anderson took to the stage to acknowledge what had long seemed like a forgone conclusion: she handily defeated perennial candidate Roy Owens, the unconventional Roxbury minister whose anti-Muslim rhetoric failed to sway voters.

After preliminary voting narrowed down the field of candidates vying for the District 7 city council seat soon to be vacated by acting Mayor Kim Janey, two remain –– Tania Anderson and Roy Owens Sr.

Before U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley arrived in her Hyde Park district office to celebrate its opening, the River Street storefront was packed with activists from across her district — a ward committee chair from Roxbury, a Chelsea School Committee member, anti-gun-violence activists from Randolph and City Council candidates from Boston.

The U.S. Census is still weeks away from releasing data on population changes, but Massachusetts elected officials and political activists are already knee-deep in the redistricting process as the Legislature prepares to redraw political boundaries to respond to shifts in the state population.

There are now seven candidates for the Roxbury-based seat vacated by acting Mayor Kim Janey.