Boston City Councilor Rob Consalvo saw defeat by a large margin, earning only 8 percent of the votes cast in the preliminary election on Tuesday.
Consalvo’s spirit was not reflective of a man who had just been defeated. He maintained his fiery spirit in his concession speech, congratulating and rounding up applause not only for Walsh and Connolly, but the other candidates who ran.
Consalvo told the crowd that his ideas surrounding education, public safety and creating an innovation center in the city will move forward.
“When the next mayor is elected, I know that the debate that we brought and the ideas that we brought, and the things that we talked about will continue to be part of the civic dialogue of this city in the next administration for years to come, and I am proud of that,” he told the crowd.
His advocacy for public schools earned an endorsement from the Boston Teachers’ Union, and his ideas for public safety spanned a wide scope of vision, from adding more beat cops to his push for rubber sidewalks. These details brought a lot of attention, which is why the low numbers at the polls surprised his supporters.
Jim Rourke, of Brighton, said he was shocked and disappointed.
“I really thought he’d do better. I was expecting to see him place, I expected him to be in the top two—at least third, which would have put him in a good position,” Rourke said.
When asked what he would have done differently, the city councilor simply said he just ran out of time.
“It was a short race. It only started in April, it only left me five months. I still raised $600,000, but I could have used more time and more finances,” Consalvo said.
Consalvo said he’s unsure what his future holds but that he’ll continue working hard for his constituents until the end of his city council term in January 2014.
