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Boston

Every election cycle we have data for, most recent first.

Council composition (approx.)

36 councillors elected across cycles 2023, 2025, summed by party. One square per seat. Approximate: by-thirds councils mid-term, boundary reviews, and partial-cycle elections all mean this can be a few seats off the live council count. For the authoritative current composition, check the council's own members list. Hover any seat for the party.

Cycles

• 2025 6 races · 6 seats 50.0% below quota
• 2023 15 races · 30 seats 83.3% below quota
• 2021 6 races · 6 seats 50.0% below quota

Party-control changes between cycles

Cases where the largest party (by seats won) changed from one cycle to the next. Each row shows the new party's vote share in both cycles and the seats they took. A small vote shift paired with a big seat shift is the First-Past-the-Post volatility story.

Caveat for by-thirds councils: only a third of the seats are elected in each cycle, so a flip in the "largest party this cycle" doesn't necessarily mean a flip in overall council control. The vote-vs-seat divergence still tells you something about how First-Past-the-Post allocates the seats that were contested.

Ward by ward

Each row is a ward, each column a cycle. Each cell shows the top-of-poll candidate's party (swatch) and their share of valid ballots. Wards are matched by name across cycles — boundary reviews can mean a ward of the same name is a slightly different area in a later cycle.