State Sen. Nick Collins victorious despite Wu-backed challenge

State Sen. Nick Collins defeated challenger Latoya Gayle Tuesday, fending off an attempt from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to unseat one of her political rivals. 

Collins secured 54 percent of the vote in the 1st Suffolk District Democratic primary, while Gayle garnered 43 percent, according to unofficial results posted by the city of Boston Wednesday morning. Collins received 11,062 votes to Gayle’s 8,872. 

There are no Republicans challenging Collins for his seat in the general election. 

Collins called his victory “decisive” in comments to The Boston Globe late Tuesday. 

“I love this city, I love this state, and I want to make sure that it has the type of representation that can represent everybody,” he told supporters gathered at Florian Hall in Dorchester, per the Globe. 

Collins and Gayle did not return requests for comment Wednesday morning. 

The race was closely watched by political observers in and around Boston, who saw it as a test of Wu’s political power a year after cruising through her own reelection campaign. 

Collins, a well-known South Boston Democrat, drew Wu’s ire two years ago when he worked to kill the mayor’s plan to shift more of Boston’s property tax burden onto commercial real estate owners. Wu’s efforts have been stymied multiple times in the state Senate, causing the mayor and Collins to exchange harsh criticisms of each other.

So Wu put her full weight behind Gayle’s campaign. The mayor went door-knocking with Gayle and promoted her on social media. A super PAC connected to Wu reportedly supported Gayle’s campaign with more than $50,000. 

The first-time candidate is a community activist and nonprofit worker who ran on a platform with many similarities to Wu’s own. Gayle welcomed Wu’s support, which also raised questions of how independent she would be as a state senator. Gayle insisted during the campaign that she was not a “puppet” or a “proxy for the mayor.”

On Tuesday night, Gayle reportedly grew emotional as she conceded the race. 

“The results are not what we wanted, but that’s not why I’m crying,” Gayle said, per the Globe. “He said that I made him be a better state senator, and I hope he means that. We ran one hell of a race.”

Another senator who stood in the way of the mayor’s tax plan, William Brownsberger, drew a primary challenge from a Wu-backed candidate as well. Brownsberger’s race with Daniel Lander remained too close to call Wednesday morning, with Brownsberger leading by just 61 votes, according to the Associated Press.