After finishing first and second, respectively, in Somerville’s preliminary mayoral election Tuesday, at-large city councilors Jake Wilson and Willie Burnley Jr are shifting their focus to differentiating themselves from each other rather than from the incumbent, Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, who finished in third place and will not advance to November’s final election.
Asked by GBH News why Somerville voters should choose him over Wilson, Burnley cited lived experience — specifically, the fact that he’s a renter who’s already been displaced once from Somerville due to an unexpected $400 rent hike. (He found his way back after initially crashing on his mother’s floor in Southern California.)
“I’m the only renter in this race, and like most people in Somerville and most renters, I too struggle every month with worry if next year my rent is going to go up so much that I get pushed out of this city,” Burnley said.
About two-thirds of Somerville’s housing units are renter occupied.
“Since being elected as a city councilor, I’ve passed laws expanding tenants’ rights,” Burnley added. He also cited his role in pushing for a statewide end to forced broker fees, and is proposing a city Office of Social Housing to build affordable housing on municipal land.
“These are the kind of initiatives that take someone who has the ferocity of experience — of knowing what it feels like to not know when you’re going to have a roof over your head, or if you’re going to be able to stay in the city you love,” he said.
Burnley also said that as chair of the council’s committee on licenses and permits, he’s saved small businesses “thousands of dollars” by eliminating unnecessary fees. As mayor, he said, he’d make permitting easier both for nascent small-business owners and homeowners looking to make improvements to their properties.
When asked the same question — “Why should Somerville voters choose you over your opponent?” — Wilson emphasized his experience running Somerville Youth Soccer, which serves more than 1,100 children and where he served as full-time volunteer president from 2018 to 2021.
“I have the executive experience, the proven leadership qualities and the demonstrated management administration skills that the job of mayor requires,” Wilson said. “This is a city of 82,000 people, with a fairly large municipal workforce of more than 1000 employees, and the city needs someone in charge who knows how to lead and manage.”
At Somerville Youth Soccer, Wilson added, “We transformed the organization, and I left it in a pretty remarkable place compared to where we found it.
”The staff of over 200 ... required quite a bit of management. It’s no small task each season putting together all those teams and making sure you have qualified, credentialed coaches from a risk-management perspective, and they are trained in what they need to do and giving the kind of coaching and instruction that members are expecting from an organization like that when they sign up for a program like that so that it’s a good experience for everyone.“
Wilson also cited his experience serving as the city council’s finance chair in each of his four years on the council, overseeing the annual review of the mayor’s budget and making the process “more humane” and efficient than it used to be.
According to unofficial results, Wilson captured 42% of the vote Tuesday, with Burnley winning 34% of the vote. Ballantyne, who was backed by Gov. Maura Healey, trailed far behind with 23%. Turnout was 23%.
GBH News asked both Burnley and Wilson why they thought Somerville voters were so unenthusiastic about the two-term incumbent.
Burnley responded that the outcome shows Somerville residents “are looking for leadership that is decisive, and that is transparent, and that is actually making it feel as though our city is moving forward and not stuck in place.”
Wilson said Ballantyne hadn’t done well at connecting with residents after being elected.
“It’s a sacred thing, right? When you work for the people, you have to be available and accountable to the people, and if the people feel it’s not happening, you’ll see outcomes like last night.”
Ballantyne supporter Diane Masters had a different take on Ballantyne’s loss. While Masters, a political consultant who did not work in the race, said Ballantyne struggled to communicate her ideas in a concise, forceful way, she also accused both Burnley and Wilson — but particularly Wilson — of negative campaigning that focused more on accentuating Ballantyne’s faults than on touting their own strengths.
Masters added that Wilson and Burnley enjoyed the support of two well-defined voting blocs: parents who knew Wilson through his former role at Somerville Youth Soccer, and the city’s Democratic Socialist of America voters, whose ranks include Burnley.
In his interview with GBH News, though, Burnley made a point of saying that he sees his constituency as comprised of far more than just fellow Democratic Socialists.
“I think it’s really important that residents understand that even if they don’t share my views on everything, I’m in this race so that I can fight so that they can have a better life,” Burnley said. “I want to be a mayor for everyone in Somerville.”
