Liz Breadon Reelected to Boston City Council Seat for District 9

Written by Christian Uva

Incumbent District 9 City Councilor Liz Breadon won her fourth straight Boston City Council election on Tuesday, Nov. 4, defeating Pilar Ortiz, CSOM ‘12.

Breadon earned 68% of the vote, while Ortiz, a former City Hall employee, won 31% of the vote.

“Representing Allston-Brighton has been the honor of my life, and I am so deeply grateful to have earned your trust for another term. While much has changed over the past six years, my priorities remain the same: building more affordable housing, standing up for our renters, making our streets safer, and improving the quality of life for everyone who calls Allston-Brighton home,” said Breadon in a written statement to The Gavel.

After immigrating from Northern Ireland in 1995, Breadon earned her doctorate in physical therapy from Simmons University and ran a homeopathy business until 2020. She has represented District 9, which covers Allston and Brighton, on the Boston City Council for three terms since her election in 2019.

Breadon has focused on creating more affordable housing in Allston-Brighton and improving early education and STEAM programs in Boston Public Schools. She also discussed opening city-funded grocery stores in Boston similar to those New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani plans to open.

Breadon plans to continue her work to make living in Allston-Brighton more affordable for its residents. She also highlighted the need for a replacement for the Jackson-Mann Community Center in Allston, which she said “is long overdue” in a statement.

The first openly LGBTQIA+ member of the Boston City Council, Breadon has pushed to make the city safer for its queer residents. She and Councilor Julia Mejia filed a resolution to declare Boston a sanctuary city for transgender people, which the council passed in March.

Breadon chaired the Committee on Redistricting, which overhauled Boston’s ward map in 2022. Black voters were packed into District 4 under the previous map, so Breadon and other councilors aimed to redistribute the Black vote and increase representation across other districts. The “unity map” passed the council 9-4 in November of that year.

Breadon earned the endorsement of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu during her campaign.

Ortiz, a native of Texas and the daughter of Mexican immigrants, has lived in the Allston-Brighton area since she began attending Boston College in 2008. After volunteering on Wu’s 2021 mayoral campaign, she served as the mayor’s city council liaison and later the chief of staff of the City of Boston’s Law Department in 2022, a role she held until this past May.

Ortiz said she was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, which forced her to take a three-month-long break from her campaign. She also noted how little fundraising she got compared to Breadon. Ortiz spent $1,016.43 on her campaign in 2025, while Breadon spent $27,765.13.

“We need less money in politics at every level, especially as communities struggle. Allston-Brighton is not swayed by dollars but by ideas and community,” said Ortiz in a written statement.

Despite the outcome, she said she is still proud of how her campaign turned out.

In an Oct. 13 forum, the two candidates agreed on most issues, including making sure universities like BC and Harvard University pay the city through the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program. Both Breadon and Ortiz have pointed out that Allston-Brighton has been neglected in the city’s budget, and that contributions from these tax-exempt universities would help the neighborhood.