24 Possible Candidates Vying for Mayor's Seat

The deadline to sign up for nomination papers for Boston's mayoral and city council elections has passed, with 24 possible candidates for mayor.

To put that in perspective, there were five total candidates in 2009's preliminary election for Boston mayor.

The deadline to sign up for papers was Monday at 5 p.m., and there were no big surprises at the deadline—like Mayor Thomas Menino deciding to seek reelection.

"The 24 candidates who signed up by Monday’s deadline must now gather 3,000 signatures by May 21 in order to appear on the Sept. 24 election ballot," city spokesperson Emilee Ellison said. 

Some possible candidates have already started to announce they're not running for office, such as Frank John Addivinola Jr. and Gene Gorman. Some haven't committed to which race they plan to focus on, including District 4 City Councilor Charles Yancey, who requested papers for the district and mayoral races.

With at-large city councilors Felix Arroyo and John Connolly running for mayor, there is considerable competition for the at-large race. In total, 27 individuals requested nominaton papers for at-large races, including two incumbents, City Council president Stephen Murphy, and Ayanna Pressley, who was the top vote getter in 2011's at-large election. There were 10 total candidates in the 2011 at-large race.

Included in the possible running for at-large city councilor is Charlestown resident Jack Kelly III. Kelly spoke to Patch in January about his possible candidacy, saying he hadn't decided whether he was going to run but was "keeping my options open." Kelly was out at the Mayor's Neighborhood Coffee Series on May 10 in Charlestown collecting signatures but said he was not yet ready to declare his candidacy.

At-large candidates must get 1,500 signatures certified compared to mayoral candidates' 3,000 needed. A signature can only count once, and that goes to whoever submits the name first. The amount of signatures for district races is either 200 or fewer. Signatures must be submitted by May 21 to Boston's registrar. And all signatures will be certified by June 25.

All of the district races but one—District 3 with incumbent Frank Baker—had multiple candidates requesting nomination papers. Districts 5 and 8 will definitely have new councilors because current councilors Rob Consalvo and Mike Ross are running for Boston mayor.

In Charlestown's District 1, incumbuent Salvatore LaMattina, a resident of East Boston, may have two opponents—East Boston residents Brian Gannon and John Ribeiro Jr.

For a full list of all potentional candidates, see the PDF in the image gallery above.