The pact was born of necessity: Pressley is in danger of losing her seat just two years after becoming the first woman of color ever to serve on the 13-member City Council. And of ambition: Connolly doesn’t talk about it this way, but he has long been spoken of as a likely mayoral contender, and taking a stand as bridge-builder can only burnish his citywide image.
On the campaign trail, where Connolly and Pressley have been making daily appearances together for more than a week, they describe the partnership as a “natural progression’’ of a longstanding friendship and close working relationship. But they also speak bluntly about the dynamics of an off-year municipal election without a mayoral race to draw people to the polls.
“Conventional wisdom says that in this municipal election, traditional voters - code words for white - will not vote for me,’’ Pressley told Connolly supporters last week as they sipped white wine at an intimate South End fund-raiser hosted by one of his former classmates. “I think that’s insulting to me. And to white voters.’’
Pressley needs a boost as Michael F. Flaherty, a mayoral finalist in the last election, is attempting to win back the seat he held for years on the City Council. His presence on the ballot could put the squeeze on other incumbents, with Pressley likely the most vulnerable.
Connolly has a war chest brimming with $245,000, which dwarfs Pressley’s $38,000 and totals almost as much as all the other at-large city council candidates combined. Sharing campaign costs is allowed under state campaign finance laws as long as the expenses are divided equally.
The 38-year-old incumbent has strong support in his home neighborhood of West Roxbury and other predominantly white enclaves of Boston, where voter turnout is traditional higher in municipal elections.
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