As children, Brian and Chris Worrell would pass the storefront at 5 Erie St. in Dorchester on their way to the school bus each day. They lived three blocks down on Hewins Street. Just around the corner, they’d play basketball at Fenelon Playground.
These days, the brothers still return to the small commercial block — but now as elected officials.
In mid-March, Brian, the District 4 city councilor, and Chris, state representative for the 5th Suffolk seat covering this area of Dorchester, opened an office at 5 Erie St. to provide what they called “top-notch constituent services” for people in the neighborhood. It is currently the only satellite City Council office in the city and believed to be the only one simultaneously held by a councilor and a state legislator.
Both brothers, who are each serving in their first term, say the space is part of a promise they made to voters while on the campaign trail — bringing transformative resources and policies from the confines of Beacon Hill and City Hall to the heart of their district.
“We want people to realize government can and will work for them,” said Brian Worrell, 40. He added that, in order for a constituent to consider government as a useful resource, “you have to feel the policy in your life … I want them to see it, to feel it, to hear it, to almost taste it.”
The respective districts have different boundaries, but they overlap here at Erie Street, an ethnically diverse block composed of people from Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, as well as Vietnamese, Bajan, and Cape Verdean communities.
It is also an area, the brothers said, that has seen a lack of investment from city and state government, and residents here have developed a healthy skepticism of government.
Both brothers said they heard such sentiments from residents while canvassing for votes. Politicians often descend on their block when Election Day nears, but when the campaign season is over, residents say, they are left alone to navigate housing assistance, secure a business loan, or fill a pesky pothole themselves.
“A lot of people in our community don’t have a direct line,” Chris Worrell, 37, said.
The state representative said he has seen the benefits of having a line to government, at both the city and state levels. Because he’s worked in government offices, he knows who to go to for what. Before taking office, he was the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s assistant director of diversity, equity, and inclusion. He also worked for state Senator Nick Collins, of South Boston, as director of constituent services.
“We fail because we don’t know,” Chris Worrell added. “We don’t know what is going on in the state and city, and by the time we do find out, the deadline has already hit.”
The brothers see the opening of a physical office in their district as a way of removing the bureaucratic tape that shuts some communities out. During a grand-opening ceremony on March 18, they underscored the historic nature of their initiative and the fulfillment of promises each made on the campaign trail.
“Growing up in Dorchester just around the corner, this means the world to me,” Brian Worrell told the crowd of at least 60 elected officials, community leaders, family, and constituents. “We’re on the floor … so we can create policy that really works for the people.
Inside, the office still has some of its grand-opening glow. Bundles of blue and white balloons hang from the ceiling; bouquets of roses sit in vases at select desks. A black and gold basketball covered in signatures of attendees at the opening ceremony — including Mayor Michelle Wu and US Representative Ayanna Pressley — sits at another.
Paintings by local students line the pastel blue walls. A back room offers community event space, or privacy for constituents with more sensitive inquiries. The Worrells plan to invite local organizations to the office at least twice a month, so residents can learn about what programming is available.
The office is open noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, but the hours may change depending on community needs.
The brothers rent the commercial space for $1,050 a month using political campaign finances. As of March 31, Brian and Chris Worrell have about $33,600 on hand combined, according to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Chris Worrell said the partnership will allow each of the brothers to play to the strengths of their office: Brian uses his City Council seat to craft legislation on a more localized level, and Chris uses Beacon Hill’s broader, political power to pump more resources into causes they’re both passionate about.
“[Brian and I] have so many things aligned that we’re ready to send out and make a difference,” Chris Worrell said.
So far, the brothers said, about five residents have come in for at-length consultations each week. The conversations have centered around housing, but many others drop in for some quick chatter. One recent Friday afternoon, Alisa Fleming, a district resident and Boston Public Schools teacher, stopped in to learn more.
“Y’all trying to make some good changes?” she asked.
In a joking, sibling-rivalry fashion, the duo listed initiatives in their respective offices. The City Council recently passed legislation that would add 250 liquor licenses into certain Boston zip codes, Brian said. The district can expect a neighborhood hearing to assess the mental health crisis afflicting its residents, Chris added.
That all sounded great to Fleming.
“It’s just rare that we have a space to talk about this,” Fleming said.
Leveraging brotherly love and a good working relationship, 5th Suffolk District state Rep. Chris Worrell and District 4 City Councillor Brian Worrell opened their resource office at 5 Erie St. last Saturday afternoon.
The office is sandwiched between a hair braiding salon and a botanica just steps away from their childhood home on Hewins Street.
“Our bus stop was in Four Corners, so we walked this path every day,” said Chris. “Waking up and seeing this as two Black men in the city of Boston, this doesn’t even feel real to us. Bringing the resources to this community, my community, where we walked from kindergarten to 12th grade, it means so much to me.”
For his part, Brian said the office will be about not getting lost in the shuffle of constituent service at City Hall and the State House.
“We have to make sure our elected officials are seeing and hearing from our communities so when we’re on the floor creating policy,
we can speak to it and create policy that really works for the people,” he said. “This office is going to make sure we’re connecting to our residents and hearing them out and bringing them in to help create policy that will forever change this community.”
The brothers stressed that the office is not a campaign office, but a district office where resources will be showcased, and problems will be solved without having to go downtown. It will be open weekdays from noon to 6 p.m.
The opening event drew several dignitaries, including Mayor Michelle Wu, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, state Rep. Russell Holmes, state Sen. Liz Miranda, City Council President Ed Flynn, and Councillors Ruthzee Louijeune and Kenzie Bok.
“Some people might say, ‘Oh, wow, two brothers serving in office,’ but there are no coincidences,” said Wu. “This is the result of love, dedication and family that has passed onto them for decades and generations…So many issues aren’t city issues or state issues, but issues that take all of us in the community.”
Added Miranda: “Putting this office in the community is incredibly important. We want to make sure people…in the communities we represent have a place to go near them when they need help.”
Both Worrells said their offices would produce a schedule of leaders and guests who will be at the office at certain times, and they also indicated that walk-ins are welcome during business hours.
Elected officials including U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Mayor Michelle Wu turned out Saturday for the opening of a Dorchester district office for state Rep. Chris Worrell and Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell.
At the Erie Street office, just around the corner from the Hewins Street residence where they were raised, the Worrell brothers welcomed community members and officials to the storefront office where they plan to help local residents access city and state services.
“This is not a campaign office,” Chris Worrell said. “It’s strictly to bring the resources to the district.”
State Sen. Liz Miranda said the office would benefit not only constituents of the Worrell brothers, but those in the 2nd Suffolk District she represents as well.
“We want to make sure that people in all the communities we represent have a place to go when they need help,” she said.
The office will enable the Worrell brothers to help area residents with issues ranging from disputed property tax bills to accessing state contracts. It will be staffed by the Worrell brothers’ staff from both offices and will be open five days a week, though Chris Worrell said they’re considering adding Saturday hours.
They are paying rent and utilities for the space out of their campaign accounts, as is typical for elected officials who maintain district offices.
Brian Worrell was elected to represent the District 4 City Council seat in 2021, replacing Andrea Campbell, who is now attorney general. Chris Worrell was elected to the 5th Suffolk District seat in 2022, replacing Miranda, who vacated the seat for her Senate run.
“It’s going to make sure we’re connected to our residents and making policy that will change the community for the better,” Brian Worrell said. “Growing up in Dorchester, just around the corner, that means the world to me. This is what showing up and being here for our community looks like.”
Monday, as the office opened, constituents were lined up waiting, Chris Worrell told the Banner.
“Eleven people came in first thing,” he said. “We’re hitting the ground running.”
Boston City Councilors are set to discuss putting in a bid to host the NBA All-Star Game at TD Garden for the first time since 1964.
City Councilor Brian Worrell is leading the charge to help the Celtics bring All-Star weekend to Boston in 2026. An order is being considered Wednesday by the Boston City Council, which could lead to a hearing about the bid. That would help councilors understand the preparations and requirements that go into hosting the event.
Although still under consideration, there is already momentum behind the effort. Last summer, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver encouraged Boston to apply to host the game.
At the time, Mayor Michelle Wu supported the idea, saying it could be great for Boston’s economy. Last year’s All-Star Game in Cleveland, Ohio led to $140 million in direct spending and generated nearly $250 million in total economic impact for the city.
The 2026 All-Star weekend would coincide with both the 80th anniversary of the NBA and the Celtics. It would also bring the game back to where it started, as the very first All-Star Game was played in Boston in 1951.
The Boston City Council is taking aim at Walgreens after the company chose to close three stores in Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Roxbury.
The council plans to use their legislative powers to stop Walgreens from opening any future stores in the city unless they halt the closures. An ultimatum like this is not unprecedented. Former Mayor Thomas Menino sent a letter to Chic-Fil-A, telling the company not to open in the city because of their views on same-sex marriage.
“We can use whatever leverage we have, which is our zoning code, and leverage that to get them to make sure they come back to the table,” explained Brian Worrell, the City Councilor for District 4. The Walgreens closure on River Street in Mattapan is within his district.
Without the three locations, the council believes pharmacy deserts will be created. They say the majority of residents in those areas don’t use cars to get around.
“We are talking about predominantly working-class Black and brown communities that relied on Walgreens for many, many years, ” said Worrell. “Now we are stripping a major resource away from them. We are talking about places where communities have got their food, their medication, their COVID vaccines.”
Reps for Walgreens say the company is reviewing the council’s proposals and is currently working on a response. In the meantime, the company is transferring patients’ prescriptions to other Walgreens locations.
More than 200 Black women leaders past and present will be honored with street pole banners along Blue Hill Avenue (from Quincy Street to Franklin Park), Washington Street, and Seaver Street in Grove Hall this summer in what organizers say will be the largest such public display in the city.
The “Black Women Lead” project has been in the works since 2019, according to one of the organizers, Ed Gaskin of Grove Hall Main Streets, who said the object of the displays is to highlight the names of Black women who have been leaders locally and nationally and worked “tirelessly since the 1700s to make Boston a better place.”
“I can’t imagine it will be received by the community in any way but positive,” said Gaskin, who noted that fundraising efforts are still ongoing to make the project, which is being supported by the Kraft Foundation, City Councillor Brian Worrell, and state Rep. Chris Worrell, a reality this summer.
“The idea is to give a sense of purpose and history,” said Gaskin. “You go from Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman who were abolitionists or helped escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. Fast forward and we have a Black mayor, a Black congresswoman, and a black US attorney, so this banner project gives you a sweeping sense of history.”
The names listed for display include people like the late state Rep. Doris Bunte, long-time activists Alfreda Harris and the Mildred Hailey, and television personalities Rev. Liz Walker and Karen Holmes Ward. There are long-ago activists like Geraldine Pindell Trotter, 20th century leaders like Gail Snowden, and current day thought-leaders like Karilyn Crockett, the author of “People Before Highways.”
“These Black women leaders represent the possibilities my family, and so many other families, envisioned when they came to Boston from West Virginia in the 1950s,” said Crockett. “It’s an incredible honor because I appreciate the way Grove Hall Main Streets and others involved are sending a collective message that no one community or city walks on one person. There are so many hands and hearts put into loving and leaning into justice.”
Former state Rep. and city housing official Charlotte Golar Richie said she was humbled to be included as an honoree.
“My hope is that this project is just the beginning of an ongoing effort that documents and celebrates the contributions of Black women in our society – those we know and those that are unacknowledged or underacknowledged,” she said.
“Role models count in our society and having somebody that looks like you and is doing things you might like to do helps our young people dream about possibilities.”
The Worrell brothers will help launch the effort during a State House event this Friday (May 12). “So often we forget what these Black women have done or are doing for the community,” said Chris. “We want to make this a yearly thing because you can’t uplift all that Black women have done in just one year…We believe every other city and small town could take this model from the 5th Suffolk District and District 4 to honor their community’s Black women past and present.”
For his part, Brian hopes the array of 200-plus Black women depicted one after another on street banners will be groundbreaking in his neighborhood. “When I was in school you have one person come to you and tell you to stay in school,” he said. “You remember who it was, but it feels like an anomaly when just one person encourages you. When you have 200-plus people coming at you and saying you can be a change agent because they did it, it broadens the possibilities for our young people.”
Gaskin said they are still seeking about $40,000 to fund the project and install all 200-plus banners. He said he can get the banners in place within three weeks of completing the fundraising – and the hope is that will be done by July when the national NAACP convention takes place in Boston.
“I’d like to have them up for that event and I think the attendees would like to come see these banners as a placemaking event,” he added.
A special event was held at the State House Friday to honor Black women who have made and continue to make a difference in Boston.
Lawmakers and community members gathered for the “Black Women Lead Brunch” Friday morning.
Taking place in the state capitol building’s Hall of Flags, the event honored 200 Black women leaders for their contributions and stewardship in the City of Boston
7’s Amaka Ubaka spoke at the brunch, which was hosted by Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell and State Representative Christopher Worrell.
When it came to talking about police reform, Brian Worrell chose his words carefully.
He was seated in Pollo Lounge and Grill, a no-frills mom-and-pop in Bowdoin-Geneva, a part of Dorchester that is no stranger to brutal street violence and the police response to such bloodshed. Worrell, a 38-year-old real estate broker who is the new councilor for District 4, didn’t order food but recommended a half-chicken with rice meal, along with some specialty sauces.
For 40 minutes on a recent Friday evening, Worrell skipped through the political minefield of police reform, avoiding blanket indictments, opting for measured and nuanced responses instead.
Worrell represents one of the city’s most diverse districts, with more than 90 percent residents of color, yet he also received the backing of the city’s largest police union in his campaign last year. It’s a dichotomy that comes amid a police reform discourse filled with uncompromising talking points. Yet his views on police reform, and the delicate political balance they strike, point to the complexities of the debate that often get lost or ignored in the public debate.
Yes, he acknowledged, changes to the city’s law enforcement must happen, but he also conceded that public safety continues to be a legitimate concern for residents of the district. Gun violence remains a reality, as does poverty. The city’s first homicide of 2022, the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old, occurred in District 4, which includes a sizable chunk of Dorchester, a swath of Mattapan, and smaller parts of Roslindale and Jamaica Plain. Statistics from local police stations show that shootings are a regular occurrence for some neighborhoods.
Roughly 80,000 residents live in District 4, more than 60 percent of whom identify as Black, according to an analysis of census data from the Boston Planning and Development Agency. Of the district’s nearly 26,000 households, about 5,000 live on less than $15,000 a year, according to the BPDA.
Worrell may be a freshman councilor, but he is already adept at the political art of avoiding being painted into a policy corner. He deflected inquiries about potential reform-minded changes to the city’s police union contracts, all of which are expired. Mayor Michelle Wu campaigned on a promise to seek changes to such agreements as a way to realize substantive police reform.
Worrell, in a follow-up phone interview, said he will closely review the contracts “and make an informed decision when it becomes time to vote” but made sure to sidestep making any commitments to specific changes.
While some Boston councilors have favored hiring hundreds more officers, Worrell would not say if he wants that to happen. Instead, he chose to advocate for further diversifying BPD, adding that he wants “a greater focus on community-based policing.”
He wants the department to better reflect the communities it serves. It’s a theme he repeatedly returned to. “We’re not where we want to be, but we could keep on making steps in that right direction,” he said.
Worrell is the first Black man to serve on the council since Tito Jackson in 2017. He won his council spot fairly handily in what was his first political contest, defeating Evandro C. Carvalho, garnering 61 percent of the vote in the process. One of the starkest divides between the two candidates was on policing, with Carvalho framing himself as the more reform-minded candidate.
Worrell, however, is supportive of a litany of police reforms. He favors alternative responses not involving police to certain mental health and substance use crises. Last month, he formally requested Boston police publicly release an update on the status of the disciplinary action against any of the department’s officers who were at the attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., a year ago.
When asked if BPD should do away with its controversial gang database — which critics consider racially unjust, with little proof it helps police reduce violent crime — Worrell chewed it over, and offered his take after a long pause. “Yes, the way it’s constructed now, it doesn’t work.”
In a questionnaire last year, Worrell said he supported ending information sharing between Boston police and federal immigration authorities, expressed support for the district attorney’s do-not-prosecute list for certain offenses, indicated he would support a reallocation of 10 percent of Boston police’s budget, and thought that white supremacist sympathies were a problem within the department.
But he did not support a hard overtime cap for individual officers, nor did he back safe consumption sites for hard-drug use — positions that more progressive colleagues have taken.
Another dividing line in his council campaign last year was Worrell’s endorsement from the city’s largest police union, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, which represents about 1,600 officers. It’s a labor group that publicly tangled with Worrell’s predecessor.
Certainly, the BPPA endorsed other council candidates in 2021, including Worrell’s current colleagues Michael Flaherty, Erin Murphy, Frank Baker, and Ed Flynn. Those councilors are all white; Worrell was the only council candidate of color to receive the endorsement from that union among those who advanced to the general election.
Worrell, who has a cousin on Boston police, suggested the backing of police officers in the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, or MAMLEO, was crucial in landing him the endorsement. “I ran on collaboration, working with everyone, bringing everyone to the table,” he said of the BPPA’s support. “I feel like that’s what this time needs.”
Jeff Lopes, a Boston police detective who is president of MAMLEO, described Worrell as a collaborator who is willing to have uncomfortable conversations about policing. Worrell is someone “who understands there needs to be reform in policing, but acknowledges that policing is needed,” Lopes said.
However, many police critics in the city’s political circles view law enforcement unions as serious obstacles to reform. For them, a BPPA endorsement is a nonstarter.
Darnell Williams, former head of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, recently noted, “If that endorsement predicates silence, then that’s going to be a problem for the community.”
But Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, a local political consultant who grew up in Mattapan, said that as a Black man, Worrell knows what needs to change when it comes to policing. “I don’t think he’s going to kowtow because he has the police union support,” she said.
Paul “Notorious VOG” Parara, a local radio host, said many residents of areas like District 4 have a straightforward goal when it comes to policing that doesn’t necessarily entail a desire to “defund” the police, as some police critics have called for doing, even as the definition of what that means is not universal.
“People want police not to kill Black people,” Parara said. “I’m saying it as simplistic as possible.”
“In that particular district, Black males have had some real hard experiences with policing,” Parara said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for him to do some good work there.”
Worrell’s election could be viewed as a signifier of the complexities of the politics of police reform and the public’s attitudes toward the subject. Kevin Wozniak, a sociology professor at UMass Boston, said in an e-mail, “the majority of public opinion polls I have seen conducted across the U.S. over the past few years consistently find that only a minority of Black Americans supports ‘defunding’ the police.
“The majority sentiment among Black Americans is that they want to experience just, fair, and equitable policing in their communities. Basically, they want to be policed in the same way that wealthy White communities are policed,” he said.
In the Bowdoin-Geneva eatery, Worrell made a similar point, drawing from his life experience. From kindergarten onward, he attended school in the Boston suburbs — first Lincoln, then Sudbury, via the METCO program. He said that experience showed him how police handled situations differently in those towns compared with his native Dorchester.
“One kid is getting driven home, one kid is getting locked up, one kid gets a record, one kid is getting a talking-to,” he said.
District 4 City Councilor Brian Worrell wants to use city contracting to boost businesses owned by people of color and push city housing policy to create more home ownership opportunities in Boston.
“The tools we have as a city have not been used to their full potential to ensure we are making headway and economic mobility for Black and brown communities and righting the wrongs of the government policies of the past,” he said during his maiden speech on the floor of the council last Wednesday.
Also giving her first speech as a councilor Wednesday, at-large Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune advocated eliminating immigration restrictions that have left Haitian refugees stuck at the U.S.-Mexico border and called for using city-issued bonds to fund the production of affordable housing and tackle the needs of the city’s low-income residents.
“The more buildings we fund via bonds,” she said, “the more we will have in our budget to look at innovative ideas already underway in other cities to meet residents’ basic needs, such as social housing, such as guaranteed income — all of these are creative things we can be doing if we are leaning more into how we are using our bonds.”
The councilors’ speeches point to a decidedly activist bent among many of the new members of the body. While Boston City Councilors are often seen as minor players in the city’s “strong mayor” form of government, the body now has a majority of people of color and a majority of women, twin dynamics that have shifted the political discourse to the left.
With the election last year of socialist activist Kendra Lara to the Jamaica Plain/West Roxbury District 6 and Tania Fernandes Anderson, a Cape Verdean Muslim immigrant, to the Roxbury-based District 7, the body appears poised to push Mayor Michelle Wu on progressive issues.
Lara, who heads the council’s Housing Committee, campaigned on issues including support for a return to rent control and increasing the percentage of affordable housing produced in Boston. Fernandes Anderson, working with at-large Councilor Julia Mejia and Worrell, is backing a commission to study reparations for descendants of slavery in Boston.
“Across the board, the majority of the city councilors elected had platforms that spoke to progressive issues,” said Reclaim Roxbury co-founder Armani White. “I’m hopeful that they’ll follow up on their commitments.”
Voters last year overwhelmingly supported a nonbinding referendum calling for a return to an elected Boston School Committee and supported a measure calling for the council to have greater power over city budgeting. A majority of voters also showed support, in polls conducted during the election year, for a return to rent control.
Over the last two years, the council has crept to the left, with councilors of color in 2020 clashing with former Mayor Martin Walsh over issues including police spending and exam school admissions policy. With a more progressive-leaning administration under Wu, the Council seems ready to tackle issues such as rent control, an elected school committee and reform at the Boston Planning and Development Agency — a key plank in Wu’s platform.
While the body appears poised to push for progressive reforms, the window for change may not remain wide open for long. Councilor Lydia Edwards, who pushed for charter reform that would give City Councilors greater budgetary power, has secured the Suffolk and Middlesex state Senate seat during a special election and will leave the body in April, when a new councilor is elected to fill the District 1 seat. District 5 Councilor Ricardo Arroyo has entered what is so far a two-way race for the Suffolk County District Attorney seat vacated by recently appointed U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins.
In the meantime, councilors are pushing for reform.
Louijeune, who testified in January before the Senate in favor of a bill that would end the statewide prohibition on rent control, focused much of her maiden speech on housing. She also zeroed in on enforcement of the city’s Boston Residents Jobs Policy, which mandates that a majority of construction jobs on major projects go to Boston residents and people of color. Construction firms are rarely in compliance with the policy, and Louijeune wants more on-site monitors and increased oversight from the Boston Employment Commission.
“I think about all the family members and all the people I grew up with, stuck in low-wage jobs,” she said. “We haven’t made these good union jobs accessible to them. And that’s on us. That’s on all of us in this room.”
For Worrell, the push for reform comes in the form of what he terms his “Black and brown economic empowerment agenda,” which includes targeted supports for Black and Latino-owned small businesses, increased opportunities for home ownership and increasing the share of city contracts going to businesses owned by people of color.
“For this agenda to be realized, we must not only hope for change, but take the necessary steps to have honest conversations about what is working and what is not, to identify barriers to these shared goals and build off of successful models that are working,” he said during his speech. “As a city, we have the tools required to make much-needed progress in these areas.”
Political newcomer Brian Worrell won out in Boston’s District 4 on election night, winning a decisive victory against competitor Evandro Carvalho, a former assistant district attorney and state representative. Worrell is the only Black man elected to the Boston City Council this upcoming term.
Coming in at the end of the evening with 7,442 votes to Carvalho’s 4,597, Worrell will succeed Councilor Andrea Campbell who vacated the position to run for Mayor. Campbell gave an endorsement to Worrell just weeks before the election and took to Twitter to congratulate him on the win.
“District 4 is in good hands and I am proud to pass the baton to Brian as we continue the work of bringing resources to our residents, uplifting our civic leaders, and reforming systems that have been broken for far too long,” she wrote.
The 38-year-old real estate broker ran on a platform defined by his commitment to improving the economic health of the district, leveraging his experience as a business owner throughout the campaign. In a previous interview with the Banner Worrell said he wants to create “pipelines between workforce development programs and private institutions [that] will place our community in industries of the future such as healthcare, IT, renewable energy and trades.”
His message of prosperity mixed with an emphasis on public safety, affordable housing and education seemed to resonate with voters, as he won out in all but two precincts last Tuesday.
“I stand here because of this district’s dedication to the community and I want to thank the volunteers who took on leadership roles, knocked doors, and made this a collective effort,” Worrell said in a statement.
In addition to his endorsement from Campbell, Worrell also received support from the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association — a controversial move as the push for police reform continues in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police last year. Worrell told the Boston Globe in October that he supports increasing the number of police officers of color and favors “targeted police budget cuts.” In addition, he said he believes the endorsement is an “in” to deeper discussion about reforms, and that he promises to continue the work of his predecessor cracking down on abuse and fraud.
Worrell points to his team and efforts knocking on doors and getting out in the community as the reason for his success throughout the nearly year-long campaign.
“We ran this grassroots campaign for the people of District 4, disregarding the status quo and special interests that have not benefited our community,” he said.
Strategy it seems won out over money. Raising more than $75,000, compared to his opponent’s comparable but slightly higher $88,000, it appears that District 4 was decided by ground game and backing by key players.
“It has been a long campaign and I thank you all for your support. From the countless phone calls to the hours and hours spent going door to door in our community, your efforts have made this campaign a success,” Worrell’s statement goes on to say.
A Northeastern graduate, and owner of Greater Investments real estate, the Boston native takes on his next endeavor of leading his district at City Hall in just a few short months. The new council, including Worrell, convenes on January 3.