Somerville: A Tale of Two Mayors

Somerville residents headed to the polls on Sept. 16 to vote in the preliminary elections for mayor, councilor at large, school committee member for Ward Three, and councilor for Ward Seven. The city is divided into seven wards, each represented by its own councilor, in addition to the four councilors elected at large.

Somerville is home to many Harvard and peer university students. The city’s next mayor will have a direct hand in shaping key issues such as housing, rent prices, and how universities engage with their host communities.

Somerville’s 2025 municipal election cycle began in December 2024 with three mayoral candidates: current Councilors-at-Large Jake Wilson and Willie Burnley Jr., along with incumbent two-term Mayor Katjana Ballantyne. The preliminary narrowed the field to Wilson and Burnley Jr., setting up a general election between two sitting councilors. Somerville conducts municipal elections every two years, with a preliminary round before the general election on Nov. 4.

With 12,431 total ballots cast, Wilson emerged as the frontrunner in the mayoral race with 41.7% of the vote. Burnley Jr. fell just behind Wilson, capturing 33.6% of voters, and Ballantyne received just 23.5%, ending her bid for a third term. 

A Focus on Affordable Housing

Somerville’s housing market has become exceedingly unaffordable for new families. In 2024, the city’s median home price crept above the $1 million mark for the first time, coinciding with rising rents for multi-bedroom apartments. 

The Winter Hill Urban Renewal Plan Civic Advisory Committee, consisting of city councilors and private citizens, convened throughout 2024 to discuss an ongoing housing development at 299 Broadway. The project, which first entered the city’s planning pipeline in 2021 under the Somerville Redevelopment Authority, aims to replace the long-abandoned Star Market with a mixed-income residential complex that includes 3,000 feet of shared community space.

“I serve on the Winter Hill Civic Advisory Committee, and I know the tools that we used to unlock that project and make it happen at those levels. That includes a 20-year urban center housing tax financing program, basically a 20-year tax break,” Wilson said in an interview with the Harvard Independent.

As of summer 2025, the 20-year tax increment agreement for the Winter Hill redevelopment has been secured.

Since becoming a councilor-at-large in 2022, Wilson has co-sponsored 600 pieces of legislation, including one that offers incentives for housing developers to build affordable Accessory Dwelling Units. “I live blocks away from 299 Broadway, the old Star Market,” Wilson said. “That entire property is set to be redeveloped here with a groundbreaking mixed-use development.”

Unlike Wilson, who emphasizes marginal victories through individual developments, Burnley Jr.—a fellow two-term councilor who has co-sponsored 391 pieces of legislation—argues that solving the housing crisis requires broad institutional change.

“We’ve already legalized city-wide accessory dwelling units, and frankly, we have not seen much gain from that,” Burnley Jr. said in an interview with the Independent. “I would like to create an Office of Social Housing so that we can bring together, interdepartmentally, the folks who know how to acquire more housing and develop more housing and partner with nonprofits, like Just A Start, which is based in Cambridge, so that we can have housing that’s about what’s considered 30% [Area Median Income: the midpoint of income levels across the city].” 

On implementing the new office, Burnley Jr. said he would follow the model of former Mayor Joseph Curtatone, who established the Office of Housing Stability by hiring a single staff member to design a long-term housing strategy and gradually expanding the office’s budget.

Burnley Jr.’s own experience with the growing threat of displacement, intensified by a pervasive affordability issue, has inspired his current priorities on tenants’ rights.

“Back in 2017, my landlord raised my rent about $400, and that was something I couldn’t afford,” Burnley Jr. said. “So, I’ve tried to do everything I can as a councilor to make life just a little bit easier [and] provide a little bit of relief. The first law I proposed was a tenant’s rights law so that renters knew what their rights were, what resources were available. It changed zoning so that we could lower the cost of construction by removing some of the mandates that were required.”

Another key issue in the campaign is how the city government should engage with local universities such as Tufts and Harvard. While Harvard is primarily based in Cambridge and Allston, it maintains regular communication with Somerville’s government; as the largest landowner in Cambridge, its influence inevitably crosses over.

“I think that the mayor should work as well as they can with the Harvard administration to ensure that all policies are beneficial for both residents and students,” Patterson Frazier ’29 said to the Independent. “I believe that Harvard being in Somerville is an important asset in terms of economic and career progression [for] Somerville residents, but I also recognize that Harvard can have negative impacts.”

Although Harvard is not a major landowner in Somerville, it does operate graduate housing there, including Beckwith Circle and parts of the Holden Green complex along the Cambridge-Somerville line. Fewer than half of Harvard’s graduate students live in University-owned apartments, leaving many to rent on the private market—where Somerville has become a popular choice.

“[When] we get the accountability report twice a year from Harvard and from Tufts, I take that opportunity every year to call attention to the fact that we need Tufts to build more dorms on campus,” Wilson said. “It is one of the big stressors on our housing market here in Somerville, especially for families, where three- or four-bedroom units often get taken up by college students.”

Both candidates have stressed the importance of open dialogue with constituents as a way to show their commitment to addressing residents’ concerns.

Wilson’s campaign website pledges he will be a mayor who is “transparent, effective, and actively listens to you.” 

Burnley Jr. also highlighted this aspect of his message. 

“Another piece [of the campaign] is just better communication with residents and better transparency. In many of the laws I’ve passed, I’ve made sure to include communication aspects so that we’re not just saying we’re doing better, but that people in our community know where the city is moving,” he said. “As mayor, I [will] try to revolutionize the way that we communicate and engage with our constituents.” 

This emphasis on community engagement helps explain why citizens often view local politics more favorably than national politics. A 2023 Pew Research Study found that 61% of Americans had a favorable view of their local government, while only 22% rated the federal government positively.

“I care about the environment first in politics and the policies that I look for,” registered Green Independent Drew Flanders ’29 said to the Independent. “While [politics] matters greatly on a large scale, on a smaller scale, like for mayoral elections, it really determines a lot of how the town approaches environmental issues…[Somerville] has very strong environmental programs, including a curbside composting program, which I believe is one of the many things that we could do better to aid the environment and better our world as a whole.”

Somerville residents who are U.S. citizens and will be at least 18 by Election Day must register to vote by Friday, Oct. 24. Registration can be completed online or by mail. 

Philipos Alebachew ’29 (philiposalebachew@college.harvard.edu) wishes Cambridge citizens could directly vote for mayor.