John R. Connolly

John Ronan Connolly (born July 6, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, and educator from Massachusetts. He served from 2008 to 2014 as an at-large member of the Boston City Council, and was the runner-up in the 2013 Boston mayoral election. On the council and as a mayoral candidate, Connolly was known for his support of public school reforms.

Early life, family, and education Connolly was born in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Connolly comes from a politically prominent and connected family. During his time at the firm, Connolly received mentoring from firm partner Mark V. Nuccio

Connolly's work as an attorney at Ropes & Gray included matters related to corporate transactions. One matter that he was involved in (per a biography that the firm wrote for him) was a leveraged buyout of "a large, privately held publishing company." Connolly himself would later say that he had been a junior lawyer on that matter, creating summaries of the company's business records for more senior lawyers to read. A matter he would later recall having had greater involvement in was the representation of the original owners of an air freight company in their negotiations to buy-back the company from its publicly traded parent company. While at the firm, he also carried out some pro bono legal work –including assisting a private school in its pursuit of nonprofit status.

Hanify & King (2004–2007) After working at Ropes & Gray for 2½ years, he departed in April 2004 to begin working at Hanify & King, a midsized firm

In council elections, his longtime base of support was centered in the West Roxbury and Roslindale neighborhoods. The acknowledgement came after a Boston Herald columnist had accused the campaign of sending the unsigned, unattributed flyers.

First term (2008–09) and second term (2010–11)

Connolly took office in January 2008.

In 2011, Connolly uncovered and publicized the fact that there was expired food in freezers at Boston schools. He had discovered he this while making surprise visits to the cafeterias at four different schools.

Third term (2012–13) Connolly (second from right) at the 2012 East Boston Columbus Day Parade with other politicians, including Felix G. Arroyo, Elizabeth Warren, Thomas Menino, Ayanna Pressley, and Stephen J. Murphy

In 2012, Connolly was the only council member to vote against the city's teachers' union contract, opposing the fact that it did not extend the school day. In 2012, Connolly publicly supported school reform legislation that was pending in the Massachusetts Senate. Also in 2012, Connolly called for the resignation of Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson due to her failure to fire a school headmaster who had in criminal court entered an admission to sufficient facts for a jury to convict him of domestic violence allegations that he assaulted his wife. Connolly, in turn, faced criticism from many leaders in the city's communities of color for demanding the resignation of Johnson (who is African American, and was well-liked within the city's communities of color). The ordinance was strongly opposed by many Boston landlords,

Connolly announced his candidacy on February 26, 2013. His campaign kickoff raised $40,000, and in the month of February he raised a total of $70,000 leaving him with $350,000 in funds by the third week of his campaign, compared to $618,000 that Mayor Menino had on hand for his expected candidacy.

While Connolly had launched his candidacy at a moment when incumbent mayor Thomas Menino was largely expected to be seek a sixth term, this soon changed. On March 27, 2013, Menino announced that he would not be seeking election. Menino's retirement drastically changed the dynamics of the election, creating the first open race for Boston mayor in thirty years. A crowded field of contenders entered the race thereafter.

Connolly touted himself as an education-focused candidate, highlighting improvements to Boston Public Schools as the central issue of his campaign. To highlight the importance of school improvements in his platform, Connolly held the formal announcement his candidacy at the city's Brighton High School.

Connolly's candidacy received endorsements from each of the city's major newspapers' editorial boards. In the primary, the editorial board of The Boston Globe made a dual-endorsement of both Connolly and John Barros. In the primary, the editorial board of the Boston Herald made a dual endorsement of both Connolly and Daniel F. Conley. Connolly pledged that he would establish an "Office of Recovery Services" to combat substance addiction in the city. Among the endorsements that Connolly received from state legislatures was one from State Representative Nick Collins, seen as potentially influential in bolstering Connolly's support in the neighborhoods of Dorchester and South Boston –both of which were in Collins' district. Connolly also received the endorsement of State Representative Carlo Basile, regarded to be a powerbroker in East Boston politics and the head of a powerful local political operation. Basile had earlier endorsed Daniel F. Conley's candidacy for mayor, but defected to Connolly after Conley angered him with insufficient support for a proposed casino at Suffolk Downs.

After Connolly earned the endorsement of the group Stand for Children, several of his opponents cast a negative light on the group and its Connolly's decision to court their endorsement, with such criticisms even being given by opponents who had unsuccessfully sought the same group's endorsement.

Connolly's campaign benefited from substantial donations from lawyers and real estate developers. During the campaign, detractors sought to characterize Connolly as both separate from and detrimental towards the city's working class. They often pointed to his upbringing as a connected politician's son in a well-off neighborhood. They also pointed to his recent opposition to a very sizable proposed police salary hike. Ahead of the general election, the Boston Herald reiterated its endorsement of Connolly.

Connolly unsuccessfully courted the endorsement of third-place contender Charlotte Golar Richie, whose endorsement was regarded to hold potential sway with racial minority and female voters. During the general election, both campaigns furiously sought to secure endorsements from within the city's communities of color, particularly its Black and Latino communities.

In early October, polls had Connolly leading the race. But by mid-October, polls showed the race having narrowed significantly. One factor that Andrew Ryan credited as contributing to Walsh overcoming Connolly's initial polling lead was the endorsements Walsh received from a number of eliminated first-round candidates, including John Barros, Felix G. Arroyo, and Charlotte Golar Richie, Commentators also credited Walsh as having, "built a broad coalition" of different groups of voters that do not always vote uniformly. Yawu Miller of The Bay State Banner described Walsh as having attracted an "odd coalition of voters".

Subsequent activities Connolly founded the nonprofit 1647.

In 2018, Connolly was appointed by acting Massachusetts education commissioner Jeff Wulson to the state-appointed board overseeing the public schools of Lawrence, Massachusetts. In 2013, she disclosed that when the two were engaged many years earlier, she had fought a bout with lymphoma (a form of blood cancer).

Electoral history City Council 2005 Boston City Council at-large electionCandidatesPreliminary Election General Election Votes%Votes% Michael F. Flaherty (incumbent) 17,828 13.90 49,220 17.58 Felix D. Arroyo (incumbent) 15,690 12.23 43,533 15.55 Sam Yoon 13,165 10.27 41,891 14.96 Stephen J. Murphy (incumbent) 14,094 10.99 35,553 12.70 John R. Connolly 14,287 11.14 31,629 11.30 Matt O'Malley 12,070 9.41 28,318 10.12 Patricia H. White 12,895 10.05 26,999 9.64 Edward M. Flynn 11,092 8.65 21,778 7.78 Althea Garrison 4,824 3.76 Kevin R. Mccrea 3,661 2.85 Roy Owens 3,622 2.82 Laura Garza 1,807 1.41 Gregory Joseph O'Connell 1,174 0.92 Martin J. Hogan 1,031 0.80 Joseph Ready 675 0.53 Joseph Ureneck 17 0.01 133 0.05 Gibran Rivera 17 0.01 all others 297 0.23 874 0.31 write-in votes

2007 Boston City Council at-large electionCandidatesGeneral Election Votes% Michael F. Flaherty (incumbent) 25,863 20.57 Stephen J. Murphy (incumbent 23,659 18.82 Sam Yoon (incumbent) 23,230 18.48 John R. Connolly 21,997 17.50 Felix D. Arroyo (incumbent) 18,579 14.78 Martin J. Hogan 4008 3.19 Matthew Geary 3030 2.41 William P. Estrada 2439 1.94 David James Wyatt 2383 1.90 all others 542 0.43

2009 Boston City Council at-large electionCandidatesPreliminary Election General Election Votes%Votes% John R. Connolly (incumbent) 35,182 18.08 51,362 18.35 Stephen J. Murphy (incumbent) 30,365 15.61 51,008 18.22 Felix G. Arroyo 25,859 13.29 45,144 16.13 Ayanna Pressley 16,866 8.67 41,879 14.96 Tito Jackson 12,535 6.44 30,203 10.79 Andrew Kenneally 12,653 6.50 24,249 8.66 Tomás González 10,122 5.20 18,310 6.54 Doug Bennett 10,529 5.41 16,842 6.02 Ego Ezedi 9,260 4.76 Hiep Quoc Nguyen 7,691 3.95 Sean H. Ryan 6,665 3.43 Jean-Claude Sanon 5,386 2.77 Robert Fortes 5,071 2.61 Bill Trabucco 3,132 1.61 Scotland Willis 2,639 1.36 all others 595 0.31 951 0.34

2011 Boston City Council at-large electionCandidatesGeneral Election Votes% Ayanna Pressley (incumbent) 37,532 21.42 Felix G. Arroyo (incumbent) 35,483 20.25 John R. Connolly (incumbent) 32,827 18.74 Stephen J. Murphy (incumbent) 26,730 15.26 Michael F. Flaherty 25,805 14.73 Will Dorcena 8,739 4.99 Sean H. Ryan 7,376 4.21 Althea Garrison (write-in) 19 0.01 Deshon Porter (write-in) 2 0.00 William B. Feegbeh (write-in) 1 0.00 all others 666 0.39

Mayor 2013 Boston mayoral electionCandidatePrimary election General election Votes%Votes% Marty Walsh 20,854 18.47 72,583 51.54 John R. Connolly 19,435 17.21 67,694 48.07 Charlotte Golar Richie 15,546 13.77 Daniel F. Conley 12,775 11.32 Felix G. Arroyo 9,895 8.76 John Barros 9,148 8.10 Robert Consalvo 8,603 7.62 Michael P. Ross 8,164 7.23 Bill Walczak 3,825 3.39 Charles Yancey 2,389 2.12 Charles Clemons 1,800 1.59 David Wyatt 334 0.30 Write-ins 130 0.12 560 0.40 Total 112,898 100 140,837 100