Incumbency and money win elections — in the vast majority of cases.
That fact was again driven home in a review of the state’s 2025 contested mayoral races, conducted by The Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Last year, voters in 34 Massachusetts cities went to the polls to elect their mayors.
Of the 34 races, 14 were uncontested, as candidates in Agawam, Attleboro, Boston, Chicopee, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Leominster, Lynn, Marlborough, Medford, Salem, Westfield, Weymouth and Woburn ran unopposed.
In Boston, incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu faced a primary opponent, but not in the general election.
Of the contested races, two featured contests for open mayoral seats, in Brockton and Newton, while in Somerville, the incumbent lost in the preliminary election.
A total of 57 candidates were on the ballot last November, including 31 incumbents. Twenty-nine of the 34 mayors elected in November were incumbents, while five were new to the position.
Only two incumbents were defeated in the general election — Gregory Verga of Gloucester and Carlo DeMaria of Everett.
The OCPF also tracked the amount of money spent in these mayoral campaigns:
• The 57 mayoral candidates raised $5.27 million and spent $4.77 million in 2025.
The records in both categories were set in 2021, a Boston mayoral election year, when 66 candidates raised $9.2 million and spent $10.04 million.
• With 57 candidates on the ballot in a mayoral final, 2025 broke the record for the fewest number of mayoral candidates since the OCFP began conducting studies in 1997.
• Six candidates raised more than $100,000 in 2025, the same number as in 2023. Eight candidates spent more than $100,000 in 2025, three fewer than in 2023.
• In 2025, the candidate who spent the most prevailed in 16 out of 20 contested elections. Only four candidates — those in Easthampton, Everett, Gloucester, and Taunton — who outspent their opponents failed to secure victory.
• The contested race with the highest spending in 2025 occurred in Everett, where ironically incumbent Mayor Carlo DeMaria lost to Robert Van Campen. They spent a combined $816,010.
Not every mayor’s race fell into the contested or uncontested category.
Mayors in Lowell and Cambridge are elected city councilors selected by their colleagues on that board.
The mayor of Worcester, a city councilor-at-large, is elected by voters separately as mayor. That race is included in this report.
The most expensive race ever was in 2013 in Boston, when former Mayor Marty Walsh and former Boston City Councilor John Connolly reported total expenditures of $6.02 million.
But as previously mentioned, having the most money in your campaign account doesn’t always ensure a victory at the polls.
That came true in dramatic fashion in the Boston mayoral race, where Josh Kraft, son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, raised three times the amount of Mayor Michelle Wu — $6.9 million to $2.24 million — lost the preliminary race by an overwhelming 72% to 23% margin.
But bottom line, incumbency and money talk — 29 of 34 races overall and 16 out of 20 contested races make that case.
Keep influenza on your radar
It’s not only humans that face the threat of influenza in this state.
The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and its partner agencies recently culled a backyard chicken flock in Dukes County after highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected.
According to the MDAR, the infected birds exhibited clinical signs consistent with HPAI and tested positive for the disease.
The MDAR recommends that both backyard and commercial poultry owners implement stringent biosecurity protocols to minimize the risk of domestic poultry encountering wild birds, as the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus remains present within wild bird populations.
Removing standing water and keeping domestic birds away from ponds, streams and wetlands is essential. Free-ranging flocks face high exposure risk to HPAI, which can be fatal.
Raptors, waterfowl and other aquatic birds are particularly vulnerable to infection, but all bird species can be affected. Poultry is especially sensitive to this virus and experiences very high death rates.
While seasonal influenza remains a threat in Massachusetts, it differs from Avian Influenza, which rarely infects humans. To date, there’s been no reported cases of HPAI in humans.
But the risk remains for those who engage in prolonged direct contact with infected animals.
MDAR urges flock owners and the public to practice the following guidance to ensure enhanced biosecurity measures:
• Report sick or dead poultry online at Mass.gov.
• Report observations of five or more sick or dead wild birds at Mass.gov.
• Avoid handling any sick or dead birds or other animals.
• Owners should keep birds indoors or in covered pens, avoid tracking dirt/feces into coops, and prevent contact with wild birds.
• Pets should always be kept away from wildlife. Cats are highly susceptible to HPAI and may die from an infection. Animal health officials also recommend leashing dogs and not feeding pets “raw diets.”
State and local agencies continue to coordinate disease surveillance across the Commonwealth.
For more information, visit the FAQ on Avian Flu created by MDAR, the Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
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