Yoon gets endorsement from councilors of color

Yawu Miller

At-large city council candidate Sam Yoon got a boost this week with an endorsement from Team Unity, the political organization formed by incumbent councilors Felix Arroyo, Chuck Turner and Charles Yancey.

Citing a desire to broaden the ethnic and political diversity on the council, the Team Unity members said they planned to share campaign resources with Yoon and urged their supporters for vote for him.

“From our perspective, an endorsement of Sam Yoon is in keeping with objectives of Team Unity,” Turner said. “We think by advancing Sam Yoon we are not only strengthening the voice of people of color, but we’re also bringing forward a man who shares our progressive values.”

Along with the endorsement, the Team Unity members say they plan to print and distribute literature pushing Yoon’s candidacy, conduct visibility events and make phone calls to likely voters.

Asked whether the Team Unity members were calling for a bullet vote for the pair, Arroyo said the group is simply asking for votes.

“What we are saying is that this is the team we are recommending to people,” he commented. “They are free to make their own decision. But this is all we’re recommending.”

The endorsement, which comes just three weeks before the November 8 election, could be a major boost for Yoon, who finished 5th in the September 27 preliminary election. Yoon is vying with Arroyo and seven other candidates for one of four at-large seats on the council.

Yoon said he is grateful for the endorsement.

“I am honored by the endorsement of Team Unity,” he commented. “I’m a newcomer to politics. But I’m not a newcomer to working for progressive values, to working for communities, to working for positive social change, to working for economic justice. It was so important to me to be asked to join Team Unity.”

While Asians have been voting in higher numbers in recent elections, the city’s Asian community would not likely generate the 30,000-or-so votes needed to secure a spot on the council. An alliance with other candidates of color could help Yoon solidify his support in their base of voters of color and white progressives.

Yoon’s 5th place finish in the September preliminary balloting could bode well for a strong finish in November. People of color and white progressives tend to vote in greater numbers in the final election than in the preliminary, often giving candidates of color an extra boost. In the 2003 election, Arroyo finished in 5th place in the preliminary before rocketing to second place in the final.

In this year’s election, however, there is a mayoral race. Because there are only two contenders in that race, neither appeared on the preliminary ballot, which serves to winnow crowded fields of candidates. Arroyo said the addition of the mayoral candidates — Councilor Maura Hennigan and Mayor Thomas Menino — on the November ballot could pull more conservative white voters to the polls.

“Each election is unique,” Arroyo said. “We’re encouraging people from our communities to understand that this is a critical race.”

This year’s race drew more than in recent years with 15 candidates vying in the preliminary for eight seats. The exit of Hennigan, who left to mount her mayoral bid, left a vacant at-large seat on the council. Additionally, Stephen Murphy, who finished in 4th place in September, is seen by many as vulnerable in this year’s election.

Yoon and Arroyo polled well in communities of color, polling in first and second place in precincts in Chinatown, the South End, Roxbury, Dorchester and Jamaica Plain. In District 7, which includes Roxbury and parts of Dorchester and the South End, Turner will be urging voters to cast a ballot for Yoon and Arroyo. In District 4, which includes Dorchester and Mattapan, Yancey has pledged to do the same.

“I believe that all of Boston will be better served by the addition of Sam Yoon and the re-election of Felix Arroyo to the council,” Yancey said.

If Yoon is elected, he will be the first Asian American to serve on the council. He could also bolster the progressive bloc of votes on the 13-member council.

“The Asian community has the opportunity to work with other ethnic groups to build power and to amplify our voice,” Yoon said. “It’s a challenge that will make Boston stronger as a city.”