The City of Cambridge likely will have an entirely new elected government as voters chose a new mayor and the challenger leads the remaining incumbent in Ward 2.
Andrew Bradshaw handily defeated longtime Cambridge Mayor Victoria Jackson-Stanley in Tuesday’s runoff election.
Bradshaw won by nearly 15 percentage points, earning 1,643 votes (57.41%) to 1,219 (42.59%) for Jackson-Stanley.
The two were the top vote-getters in the city’s Oct. 17 mayoral election, but neither topped the required 50%+1 and so faced each other in the Dec. 1 runoff.
Jackson-Stanley’s support in the runoff was largely unchanged from the initial round of voting six weeks ago, while Bradshaw appears to have picked up most of the votes of the other two mayoral challengers.
On Oct. 17, the incumbent mayor got 40.62% of the vote (1,197 votes), Bradshaw had 27.79%, La-Shon Banks Foster had 19.27%, and Robert S. Larimer had 12.32%.
Only a handful of votes separate the candidates in the two city commissioner races that also required runoff elections.
It was unclear at presstime Wednesday whether there were any provisional ballots remaining to be counted. During the Oct. 17 election, there were only four provisional ballots counted in Ward 2 and three in Ward 3.
Incumbent Ward 2 Commissioner Donald Sydnor is down by five votes to challenger Lajan Natasha Cephas.
Cephas has 223 votes (50.57%) to 218 (49.43%) for Sydnor.
Lajan Cephas, in an interview before the election, said Cambridge has “can do better” and she wanted to be part of the solution to do so.
The Oct. 17 results had Sydnor with 38.84% to 30.28% for Lajan Cephas (30.28%). Paul F. Baiers Jr. had 16.93% of the vote and Tyzann Meekins had 13.94%.
In Ward 3, Jameson Harrington is leading Gary T. Gordy by six votes.
Harrington had 216 votes (50.7%) to 210 (49.3%) for Gordy.
Harrington, in an interview before the election, said he wanted to help the city grow “and take advantage of all the great potential we have here in Cambridge.”
Gordy had 39.24% of the vote on Oct. 17 to 30.59% for Harrington, who barely edged out Duane Farrow (30.17%) by two votes to go on to the runoff election.
Lajan Cephas and Harrington will join Brian Roche (Ward 1), Sputty Cephas (Ward 4), and Chad Malkus (Ward 5) on the city commission.
During the Oct. 17 election, Roche garnered 61.59% of the vote in Ward 1, defeating two other candidates; Sputty Cephas defeated Ward 4 incumbent Dave Cannon by 13 votes (51.14% to 48.86%); and Malkus was unopposed in Ward 5.
Incumbent Ward 3 Commissioner La-Shon Foster ran for mayor rather than seeking re-election. Ward 1 Commissioner Stephen Rideout and Ward 5 Commssioner Robert Hanson did not seek re-election.
