Cambridge Elects 2 Challengers with 7 Incumbents to City Council

Updated November 5, 2025, at 1:00 a.m.

Cambridge voters reelected seven incumbents and two challengers to the City Council, according to preliminary results announced by the city early Wednesday morning.

Incumbent and current Vice Mayor Marc C. McGovern, a prominent progressive voice on the Council, received the most first-place votes on Cambridge’s ranked-choice ballot, with 2,687 voters naming him as their top choice.

Six of McGovern’s colleagues were reelected: Sumbul Siddiqui, Burhan Azeem, Jivan G. Sobrinho-Wheeler, E. Denise Simmons, Patricia M. “Patty” Nolan ’80, and Catherine “Cathie” Zusy.

The two successful challengers — Ayah Al-Zubi ’23 and Timothy R. Flaherty — each have significant political legacies in the city. Flaherty ran twice for State Senate in 2007 and 2010, losing both times by a narrow margin. Al-Zubi, who moved to Cambridge to attend Harvard College, first ran for Council two years ago with a platform centered on housing affordability and building out Cambridge’s network of protected bicycle lanes.

Her first bid fell short, but she secured 2,374 first-place votes on Tuesday, behind only McGovern and Siddiqui.

Flaherty, the most prolific fundraiser in the race, has lived in Cambridge for more than 50 years. In an interview with The Crimson, Flaherty touted what he said was an “encyclopedic knowledge” of the city and its neighborhoods. Flaherty’s decision not to seek endorsements from super PACs or other advocacy groups was part of a campaign that he cast as a rejection of polarization.

But Flaherty’s own bid proved controversial. He gained the city’s attention after representing outgoing Councilor Paul F. Toner in his ongoing criminal case. Toner, who was charged with patronizing a brothel that operated in Cambridge, is the only current councilor who chose not to seek reelection. Flaherty has been a vocal opponent of the current Council’s landmark decision to end single-family zoning citywide.

Ayesha M. Wilson was the only incumbent candidate seeking re-election who did not win a seat on the Council. Wilson, who previously served on the School Committee, will conclude her first full term on the Council in December.

Wilson was endorsed by groups associated with two of Cambridge’s three powerful super PACs – the Cambridge Citizens Coalition and A Better Cambridge, which align on opposite sides of the city’s housing development debates. The unique set of endorsements was not enough to clinch reelection.

Zusy is the only successful candidate who was endorsed by the CCC of the seven who received endorsements from the group.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at shawn.boehmer@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.

—Staff writer Jack B. Reardon can be reached at jack.reardon@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @JackBReardon.