Charlestown Man Launches City Council Campaign

Charlestown resident Jack Kelly has officially announced his candidacy for at-large Boston city councilor and will kick off his campaign tonight at a fundraiser at Old Sully’s.

“I’m going to focus on schools and jobs and making the city as easy as possible for people living in it,” Kelly said of why he is running. “One of the things I’ll be talking about is substance abuse and how it affects other parts of life in the city of Boston.”

Kelly, 32, works with Charlestown Against Drugs, the Charlestown Substance Abuse Coalition and Charlestown Neighborhood Watch. He is currently employed as a community health liaison at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Charlestown clinic, where he is working to increase awareness of and testing for sexually transmitted diseases such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV.

Previously, Kelly served as Charlestown's neighborhood liaison in the mayor’s office.

Kelly is one of 21 people who have submitted papers to run for the four at-large City Council seats. He is the only Charlestown resident running for office this year.

Charlestown’s District 1 City Councilor Sal LaMattina is a resident of East Boston and is running for re-election against two other East Boston residents, Brian Gannon and John Ribeiro Jr.

The at-large race includes incumbents Stephen Murphy of Hyde Park, currently City Council president, and Ayanna Pressley of Dorchester. The other two current at-large city councilors, Felix Arroyo and John Connolly, are running for mayor.

Former city council president Michael Flaherty of South Boston is also running again, after losing the race two years ago.

Also in the running for at-large city councilor are the following individuals: Frank Addivinola Jr. of the West End, Christopher Conroy of Roxbury, Philip Frattaroli of the North End, Althea Garrison of Dorchester, Annissa George of Dorchester, Gene Gorman of Dorchester, Jed Hresko of Roxbury, Keith Kenyon of South Boston, Martin Keogh of West Roxbury, Catherine O’Neill of Savin Hill/Dorchester, Jeffrey Ross of Back Bay, Gareth Saunders of Dorchester, Ramon Soto of Mission Hill, Seamus Whelan of West Roxbury, Francisco White of East Boston, Douglas Wohn of Jamaica Plain and Michelle Wu of the South End.

Kelly and others who have submitted the required signatures to get on the ballot are now waiting to make sure all signatures have been verified by the city registrars by the June 25 deadline.

Kelly will kick off his campaign Friday with a fundraiser from 6-9 p.m. at Sullivan’s Restaurant, 56 Union St. Pizza will be served. Kelly is asking for a donation of $20.13 per person—a nod to the election year.