Boston City Council
The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no ...
elections were held on November 15, 1983, with
preliminary elections on October 11, 1983. This election transitioned the Council from having 9 members (all
at-large
At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...
) to having 13 members (9 district representatives and 4 at-large). All 13 seats were contested in both the preliminary and
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
.
Incumbents
Each of the nine incumbent at-large councillors ran for Boston public office.
At-large
In the preliminary election, ten names appeared on the ballot, with voters able to choose four; the top eight vote-getters then appeared on the ballot in the general election.
Voters in the general election could select four of the eight final candidates; Councillors McCormack, Iannella, Tierney, and O'Neil received the most votes, so were re-elected and filled the four at-large seats, while Councillor McDermott finished fifth and was not re-elected.
District 1
Robert Travaglini
Robert Edward Travaglini (born July 20, 1952 in Massachusetts) is an American politician and lobbyist. From 2003 to 2007, Travaglini served as President of the Massachusetts Senate. He represented the first Middlesex and Suffolk senate distric ...
was elected.
District 2
James M. Kelly was elected.
District 3
James E. Byrne was elected.
District 4
Charles Yancey
Charles Calvin Yancey (born December 28, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States) was elected.
District 5
Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 53rd mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three ...
was elected.
District 6
At-large councillor
Maura Hennigan
Maura A. Hennigan (born 1952) is an American politician who currently serves as the Clerk Magistrate of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Superior Court Criminal/Business Division. She is a former member of the Boston City Council and was a mayoral ...
was elected.
District 7
At-large councillor
Bruce Bolling
Bruce Carlton Bolling (April 29, 1945September 11, 2012) was a politician and businessman in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Boston City Council and served as the council's first black president in the mid-1980s. He unsuccessfully ...
was elected.
District 8
David Scondras
David Scondras (January 5, 1946 – October 21, 2020) was a member of the Boston City Council, having held the District 8 seat from 1984 through 1993. He was the city's first openly gay city council member.
Early life
Scondras was born in 1946 ...
was elected, becoming the first openly
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
Boston City Council member.
District 9
Brian J. McLaughlin
Brian J. McLaughlin (born ca.1957) is a former member of the Boston City Council, having held the District 9 seat from 1984 through 1995.
Career
McLaughlin graduated from Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, and before running for office ...
was elected.
See also
*
List of members of Boston City Council
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
Boston mayoral election, 1983
References
Further reading
*
*
*
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External links
*
{{1983 United States elections
City Council election
Boston City Council elections
Boston City Council election
Boston City Council
The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no ...