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Gabriela Coletta Zapata says she has secured Boston City Council presidency
Coletta Zapata has represented East Boston, Charlestown, and the North End on the City Council since 2022.
Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata announced Monday that she has secured enough votes to become the body’s new president.
Coletta Zapata represents East Boston, Charlestown, and the North End on the council, which chooses a new president every two years. Councilors hoping to assume the title typically jockey for position and privately negotiate with their colleagues during the period surrounding the November elections. The new president assumes their role in early January, when the council’s new term begins.
Coletta Zapata’s announcement comes less than a week after she officially won reelection with 82.5% of the vote in District 1.
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“I’m proud to have had the privilege of serving the residents of Boston for eight years with the City Council. I deeply believe in this institution and in the vital role we play in improving the lives of Bostonians every day,” she said in a statement.
Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune is the council’s current president but must step down in January since councilors cannot serve two consecutive terms in the position. The council president generally guides the work of the body, presiding over weekly meetings, naming the members of various standing committees, and assigning matters to those committees for hearings and further deliberations. The council president serves as acting mayor whenever the current mayor is absent from the city or unable to perform their duties.
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The council will officially vote on its new president during the first meeting of the new year. In theory, councilors have until then to change their minds on who to support for president. Coletta Zapata’s name was one of the three frequently mentioned in recent reports about who could be seeking the position, alongside councilors Brian Worrell and Julia Mejia.
Mejia made the unusual strategic decision of publicly campaigning for the council presidency last week. In a video posted to social media, she criticized the normally opaque process that leads to a new president being chosen. Mejia said she wanted to restore trust in the council by fostering discourse that “centers all voices, not just a few.” She also spoke about the need for councilors to be fully independent and not accountable to “special interests.”
Over the weekend, Mejia addressed reports that one of her colleagues had already been named president despite the official vote not being scheduled until January. She spoke about the need for a fully democratic process to determine the president.
“I am very concerned because I was not spoken to. I didn’t know what was going on. So many games are being played behind closed doors, and I didn’t even get invited in,” Mejia said in a subsequent video.
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Councilor Ed Flynn, who preceded Louijeune as the president, nominated Mejia for council president two years ago as he was preparing to step down. Mejia declined to accept Flynn’s nomination at the time because she was not prepared to “lead a body that [she] didn’t understand,” she recently told The Boston Herald. Mejia did not return requests for comment Monday.
Worrell has served as the body’s vice president under Louijeune’s leadership and is the chair of the council’s influential Ways and Means Committee. He was reportedly also in the mix to become council president two years ago but opted to back Louijeune.
In a statement to Boston.com, Worrell acknowledged that he has received recent support from some colleagues. Without directly mentioning Coletta Zapata’s announcement, Worrell indicated that he still sees a path for himself to win the Council presidency.
“I’m honored to have colleagues’ nominations for Council President. I’ll spend the coming days listening to constituents and working with my colleagues to earn their vote on Jan. 5,” Worrell said. “Our job is to uphold our commitment to Bostonians: keep communities safe, expand affordable housing, and ensure a high-quality education for every BPS student.”
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Seven votes are needed to secure the presidency, and the exact makeup of Coletta Zapata’s support is unclear. Louijeune has committed to supporting Coletta Zapata, the Herald reported. Councilor Henry Santana will serve as Coletta Zapata’s vice president, she said in a press release.
Councilor Sharon Durkan confirmed her support for Coletta Zapata when reached for comment.
“There’s so much excitement around her leadership and the energy she brings to this role. Her care for community and her steady vision for our city will serve Boston well, and I’m excited to support her,” Durkan said of Coletta Zapata.
Who is Gabriela Coletta Zapata?
Coletta Zapata was raised in East Boston in a family of “community advocates,” according to her online biography. She attended Boston Public Schools and graduated from Boston Latin Academy, before earning a political science degree from UMass Boston. She has experience working with the New England Aquarium, the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, and Emerge Massachusetts, which recruits and trains women who want to run for office.
Coletta Zapata worked on state Rep. Adrian Madaro’s special election campaign in 2015 and was elected as a Democratic State Committeewoman in 2016. She served as the campaign manager for former Councilor Lydia Edwards in 2017 and as Edwards’s chief of staff during her time on the council.
When Edwards successfully ran for the state Senate in 2021, Coletta Zapata ran to replace her in a special election. She was elected in 2022 and reelected in 2023 and again this year. She chairs the council’s powerful Committee on Government Operations and also leads the Committee on Environmental Justice, Resiliency, and Parks.
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In a questionnaire for Boston.com before the recent election, Coletta Zapata said that her main concern is the high price of housing in her district, and she promised to push for “innovative housing solutions.” She emphasized the importance of engaging with constituents and said that her approach to the job is “rooted in accessibility, collaboration, and compassion.”
If she does officially secure the council presidency, Coletta Zapata will be tasked with improving the perception of a body that many residents say they’ve lost trust in. This is especially notable after former Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was sentenced to prison for concocting an illegal kickback scheme last year.
Coletta Zapata understands the frustrations residents have, she told Boston.com. The key to restoring trust, in her mind, is “showing up every single day in service to the people we represent.”
In her press release Monday, Coletta Zapata said that she and her colleagues need to lead by example.
“The strength of this Council lies in our ability to respect one another, even when we disagree, and to work together with purpose and integrity,” she said. “When we lead with respect and unity, we model the kind of civic leadership our city deserves – and we get more done for the residents who count on us. I’m honored to have earned the respect and support of my colleagues on the Council and I look forward to the work ahead.”
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