Voters on Tuesday ousted Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, according to unofficial results, a stunning outcome in the preliminary mayoral contest, which narrowed the field from three candidates to two. Ballantyne conceded at a Somerville bar around 10 p.m.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Ballantyne had just 23 percent of the vote. She was poised to finish at least 10 percentage points behind city councilors Jake Wilson, who had about 42 percent of the vote, and Willie Burnley Jr., who had 34 percent, both of whom were set to face off in November.
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Among the perceived missteps was a staffing debacle at a city library last year that saw the facility temporarily closed to everyone during some afternoon hours to keep out rowdy school kids. The library reopened full time a few weeks later, but many parents never forgot the way the incident played out, or the fact that they learned about it just the night before school started.
Ballantyne, who will continue to serve as a lameduck mayor until early January, had sought to convince voters that a change in leadership was not necessary, touting her steady management of the city’s finances, which she said was reflected in Somerville’s AAA bond rating, and her work overseeing plans for major development, including in the city’s large Somernova business park, which she has said she views as setting the standard for projects like it.
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