Sitting Somerville City Councilor-at-Large Jake Wilson announced his intention to run for mayor in the upcoming November election, on Dec. 16, 2024, becoming the first to challenge two-term incumbent Mayor Katjana Ballantyne.
Wilson discussed his decision to run, as well as his policy priorities for a possible term as mayor.
“Six months ago, I anticipated I’d be running a re-election campaign for at-Large,” Wilson said. “After a lot of soul searching, talking to my family, talking to people I really respect in the community, I came to the conclusion that I could best serve the city by running for mayor.”
Wilson said he feels that his work on City Council and chairing the Finance Committee prepares him with an understanding of the city’s inner workings and the experience collaborating with city staff.
“I always joke that a lot of my job is telling people ‘That’s a fantastic idea, here’s why it can’t happen.’ Usually, it’s one of three things: Mass. general law doesn’t allow us to do it, we don’t have the funding for that or it’s not a priority for the administration,” Wilson said. “One of the things that [my time on] City Council has been really good for is identifying how I might run things as an administration.”
Meredith Porter, a Somerville resident of nearly fifty years, said he would like to see competition to Ballantyne’s run for mayor.
“I think that things have been moving too slowly in general. I’ve been involved in housing issues, trying to work for affordable housing, and I just feel as though we haven’t made as much progress in this city,” he said.
Recent Somerville transplant Caroline Hoagland said she does not yet have strong feelings about the upcoming race, but is excited for more electoral competition in the city.
“I’m from the Deep South … so it’s very different in a refreshing way. I do feel like there's enough political discourse even if people are on the same side of the ticket. I think local politics creates more healthy discourse … because there are different factions of the Democratic Party,” Hoagland said.
Over the past four years, Ballantyne’s administration has made strides to keep Somerville affordable. Last year, Somerville launched a guaranteed basic income pilot program, which aims to bolster housing stability and has a specific focus on families with children in the Somerville public school system. Further, the city is currently on track to surpass its goal of constructing 1,200 affordable housing units by 2030.
If elected, Wilson seeks to expand on the work of the Ballantyne administration, continuing projects like 299 Broadway, which will bring online 136 units of affordable housing in the former location of a Star Market.
“Most of those, I think, are at the 60% or 30% AMI rate, so actually attainable to people who need that affordable housing, and it’s three-bedroom units — not a bunch of studios, but units that actually will keep people in Somerville who often leave if they have a family,” he said.
While overall Wilson and Ballantyne may not differ substantially in their policy aims, residents like Porter say more transparent and accountable administration would be welcome.
“There hasn’t been enough openness and transparency — that’s a big concern that I have. A huge, huge concern. I’ve done a lot of work trying to get information on development projects, and it’s very tough in this city.” he said.
Wilson says he’s up for the challenge.
“One of the things I’ve always prided myself on is my availability and accessibility to the community,” Wilson said, noting that he currently holds regular and on-demand office hours for community members.
“If elected, I would hold office hours regularly. I’d be out there in the community, talking to constituents. … It’s not just about talking to people, it's about listening to people. And that would, I think, be a very noticeable aspect of my administration,” Wilson said.
Ballantyne was most recently elected in 2023, taking around 81% of the vote to her opponent’s 18%. She did not respond to the Daily’s requests for comment.
