Embattled Boston City Councilors Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara will not appear on the ballot in November’s general election after conceding in Tuesday’s preliminary
Tuesday's Boston City Council preliminary election proved to be a shakeup for the city's governing body, with two incumbent candidates conceding after both facing controversy and public scrutiny.
Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara will not be on the November ballot, following their concession in Tuesday's race.
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Despite being incumbents, both Arroyo and Lara got less than half the number of votes as the top person in their races.
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Recent scandals could have contributed to their performance at the polls.
Arroyo, who is in his second term as the District 5 city councilor, agreed to pay a $3,000 fine in June after admitting to committing an ethics violation. He represented his brother in a civil lawsuit while on the council.
Lara, meanwhile, faces several charges in her June 30 car crash, when she hit a home in Jamaica Plain. She recently has come out denying allegations against her, and pleaded not guilty to her charges during a prior court appearance earlier this summer.
Some voters alluded to the controversies that have dominated headlines out of city council when talking the decision they were faced with at the ballot box.
"There's a whole lot of scandals in the city of Boston and I picked the least scandalous person," one voter said.
"They don't take what the people want, they do what they want," another chimed in.
In July, Tania Fernandes Anderson of District 7 admitted she violated a conflict of interest law by hiring her sister and son to paid positions on her Boston City Council staff. However, she secured a comfortable lead over the competition in her race on Tuesday.
See the full unofficial results from Boston's preliminary election here.
