In a twist, Brian Worrell poised to become Boston City Council president: City Hall source

Brian Worrell is poised to become the Boston City Council president Monday, a twist that comes less than two months after a different councilor claimed to have the position locked down, the Herald has learned.

Worrell said last Monday he was working to secure the additional two votes needed to win the Council presidency, and was able to flip three votes from Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, who claimed that she had the seven votes from her colleagues needed to lead the body on Nov. 10, a City Hall source told the Herald Sunday night.

As the news was developing, a statement from Coletta Zapata appeared on social media, via a journalist who writes for MASSterList.

“Upon further reflection,” Coletta Zapata said, she had “decided not to seek the nomination” for Council president.

Coletta Zapata, chair of the powerful Government Operations committee last term and an ally of Mayor Michelle Wu, did not respond to repeated inquiries from the Herald Sunday night on her last-minute decision, as reported on social media and confirmed by a City Hall source.

Worrell, the Council vice president and chair of the Ways and Means committee last term, would not comment on where his vote tally stood heading into Monday’s vote for Council president. He said he is planning to seek the nomination, which has to be put forward by one of his colleagues.

“I’ve always kept the consistent message on … the vote doesn’t happen until Jan. 5 and as long as I am nominated by one of my colleagues, I will gratefully accept that nomination, and look forward to gaining the support of my colleagues to lead the body,” Worrell told the Herald Sunday night.

A City Hall source told the Herald Coletta Zapata’s decision to drop out of the race came amid behind-the-scenes talks that indicated she no longer had the votes to win the presidency.

The Herald has learned three councilors who had previously tentatively committed to Coletta Zapata had flipped their votes to Worrell.

Councilors who opted to flip their votes were concerned about Coletta Zapata’s decision to name Henry Santana as Council vice president should she become president, according to the City Hall source.

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Santana, a Wu ally and at-large councilor, could not secure the necessary signatures to get on the September preliminary ballot on his own, leading the mayor to mobilize her campaign to gather signatures to get him on the ballot. As Coletta Zapata is pregnant, Santana may had led the body at times in her potential maternity leave absence.

Coletta Zapata also was the subject of widely-circulated police body camera footage since her Nov. 10 Council presidency claim that showed her interacting with a voter inside a polling place, in potential violation of state law that prohibits political activity.

Coletta Zapata was seen arguing with a Boston police officer, who was seemingly asking her to leave a polling location in her district after witnessing her speaking with a voter during early voting hours for the September preliminary election.

Worrell would succeed Ruthzee Louijeune as Council president.

Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald, File)

 

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