District 7 recount finalizes primary ballots
The recount is over, but the result is the same.
Perennial candidate Roy Owens Sr. actually had slightly extended the lead in his preliminary-election success over community organizer Angie Camacho in Boston’s District 7 by the time city elections workers wrapped up the recount on Saturday, with Owens’ advantage rising from 28 to 37 votes.
Camacho, conceding, insisted that she wasn’t dissuaded.
“Oh my God, I feel so great,” she said Saturday afternoon, noting the 30 people who came out to support her campaign during the process. “Everyone came for the same purpose: to make sure that democracy works. I’m going to take that every day.”
The not-yet-certified election results released by the Boston Election Department showed that Owens received 1,300 votes to Camacho’s 1,263. The recount was to determine to see who’d get the second slot in the general-election race Nov. 2. First place finisher Tania Anderson cruised through ahead of them with the first ticket, receiving 2,038 votes.
Camacho requested the recount shortly after the Sept. 14 primary when she came within 28 votes of second-place finisher Owens, who’s run many times for multiple offices in Boston. He already has a website up for his next race: a 2022 Congressional run. He didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The district race, which includes parts of Roxbury, the South End and Fenway, attracted eight candidates after Acting Mayor Kim Janey opted to seek a full term as mayor rather than run again for the district she’s represented since 2018. The first place finisher, Anderson, is executive director of Bowdoin Geneva Main Streets, an organization that supports a local business district.
Camacho added that she was disappointed with the turnout for the election.
Because the conversation in Boston was so heavily focused on the mayoral race, she said, 974 ballots were blank for the District 7 seat. “When people are not informed enough to be confident enough to vote downballot, that’s something we need to talk about,” she added.
A total of 8,600 District 7 residents cast their ballots, and only about 25% of voters citywide voted in the primary.