Newton City-Councilor Elect Tarik Lucas On History, What's Next

NEWTON, MA —City Councilor-elect Tarik Lucas was choking back tears of joy when his opponent called him around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to congratulate him on his campaign after the Special Election was over. And he was still teary-eyed when he addressed supporters on a Zoom call shortly after.

"I couldn’t believe it," Lucas said, upon winning the hard-fought election to represent Newton as the Ward 2 at-large city councilor. He is set to fill the seat that Rep. Jake Auchincloss left when he became a U.S. Congressperson.

Tuesday morning spent the early part of the day holding a sign outside the library when the polls opened until about 9 a.m. Then he went home and manned the phones, calling voters to remind them to vote. Around 5:30 p.m. an elderly voter told him they hadn't received the mail-in-ballot they'd applied for, so he offered to mask up and take them himself.

And so he did.

"I wasn't going to lose my one vote," he said.

Then he was back at it, on the phones calling to remind people to vote and every so often noting how much time he had until the polls closed.

Then 8 p.m. came around, and his team had recorded the results of 18 of the 32 precincts. He was up, and that’s when Bryan Barash, his closest competitor in the race, called him up and conceded.

"It was a very good phone call," said Lucas. "It was tears of joy: I just started crying. "

He praised Barash.

"Bryan is certainly a very worthy person, he’s a good person I wanted to thank him for running a good campaign, same with David Micley," he said.

As of Tuesday night, with some mail-in ballots yet to be counted he earned 7,503 votes to Barash's 6,346 votes. David Micley got 611.

History happening

The last time Newton had a Black city councilor was 1987. The last person of color to serve in the chambers was Amy Sangiolo. She stepped down in 2017, when she made a run for mayor after Setti Warren, the first Black mayor in the city stepped down to make a bid for governor.

"Being the first black city councilor since '87," Lucas said and then started again: "It’s an honor to serve on the council it truly is an honor, and like anybody you have to work at it. Nothing is going to be given to you. You. Have to work your butt off to win a seat. As far as being the first Black one in this climate, it’s a remarkable feeling, now the work begins. Now you have to enact positive change, racial justice and I hope to be part of that solution in the days weeks months going forward, hopefully we can bring some racial justice to newton given the climate."

Lucas said he looks forward to working with many Black leaders, people of color in his new role, that will likely begin officially early next week after the vote is certified.

"Anybody who wants to help see positive changes, let’s roll up your sleeves," he said.

Zoning, police reform, budget

The city council has a lot on its plate this year. Among them: the major development at the Riverside MBTA stop is back in front of them, Grace Church and police reform.

Lucas said he hasn't had the opportunity to look closely at the task force to reform policing in Newton, yet. But, he's been assigned to work on the council's public safety and transportation committee, where it will be top of the agenda.

“I need to read it over the weekend,” he said. “I have some weekend reading to do to get caught up.”

Lucas said his history with the police in Newton has been a positive one.

He's only been pulled over by police twice, and both times he was issued a warning.

"But I know that’s not everybody’s experience with the Newton Police Department," he said. "We all need to understand what others have gone through with the Newton Police Department and I do look forward to working with the police on certain measures, and just making sure we have a healthy form of communication and the pd is accessible to every day residents. I look forward to reading the task force recommendations and seeing what’s in there."

When it comes to the Riverside development project's latest iteration, he said he's planning to do a lot of talking with residents to figure out the right path.

"Because, ultimately, the city council works for the residents of Newton not the other way around," he said.

He added he understands why the developer, Mark Developer, is changing up the plans.

But he also has the sense that some people in Lower Falls and Auburndale want the hotel to stay in the plans, while others want the newly proposed life science building.

Previously: Newton City-Councilor Elect John Oliver On What's Next