Cambridge City Council Election Guide 2025

The unavoidable issues for candidates in Cambridge’s 2025 elections are affordable housing and how best to develop it and the Cycling Safety Ordinance, the plan to expand a network of bike lanes citywide, including projects coming to Broadway, Cambridge and Main streets and Massachusetts Avenue.

Not coincidentally, the city’s big independent expenditure political action committees formed around these issues. Along with a third issue candidates have emphasized in their campaign platforms, we highlight each candidate’s position on these issues as being likely to affect who’s elected Tuesday in the city’s ranked-choice form of voting (see our explainer).

Because councillor Paul Toner opted out of a reelection run, one new face is guaranteed on the council when a term begins in January, but the candidate options include many with strong opposition to the city’s current approach to housing development and transportation safety. In Cambridge, residents elect nine councillors directly, and councillors appoint a mayor and vice mayor. Multiple candidates running for reelection this cycle have served as mayor or vice mayor – when we refer to the number of terms on council they have served, those include their time spent as mayor and/or vice mayor.

The influence of citizen’s groups, especially the three independent expenditure political action committees, or Super PACs, has been a topic of discussion during this election. Cambridge has three Super PACs, Cambridge Bike Safety and two focused on housing development, A Better Cambridge and Cambridge Citizens Coalition. (Cambridge Citizens Coalition also endorses School Committee candidates.) Our list of candidates endorsed by Cambridge-focused political action committees follows.

Endorsements by citizens groups

A Better Cambridge: Burhan Azeem, Dana Bullister, Marc McGovern, Ned Melanson, Sumbul Siddiqui, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, E. Denise Simmons, Ayesha Wilson

Cambridge Citizens Coalition: Elizabeth Bisio, John Hanratty, Peter Hsu, Zion Sherin, Ayesha Wilson, Cathie Zusy

Our Revolution Cambridge: Ayah Al-Zubi, Stanislav Rivkin, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

Cambridge Residents Alliance: Ayah Al-Zubi, Patty Nolan, Stanislav Rivkin, Sumbul Siddiqui, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

Cambridge Bike Safety: Ayah Al-Zubi (champion), Burhan Azeem (champion), Dana Bullister (champion),Marc McGovern (champion), Ned Melanson (champion), Sumbul Siddiqui (champion), Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler (champion), LaQueen Battle (supporter), Peter Hsu (supporter), Patty Nolan (supporter), Stanislav Rivkin (supporter), Cathie Zusy (supporter)

(One citizens group, Cambridge Voters 4 Good Government, has not posted endorsements as of this writing.)

We’ve also put together a glossary of some relevant terms: 

“Bike Champion”: The highest endorsement offered by the Cambridge Bicycle Safety group based on questionnaire responses regarding transportation, the candidate’s commitment to fully implement the Cycling Safety Ordinance and, if the candidate is an incumbent, their voting record.

Inclusionary zoning: Cambridge’s current policy requiring residential buildings of 10 or more units to set aside 20 percent of floor area for affordable units – capped at 30 percent of gross income for eligible households in most cases.

Upzoning: Refers to zoning that increases height and density, including in multifamily housing zoning passed in February that eliminates single and two-family zones and lets residential buildings go up to four stories (or six stories for inclusionary projects with large lot sizes) for most areas in Cambridge, known as the four-plus-two model.

Repeal Slate: A group of four candidates who have pledged to try to repeal the city’s recent upzoning if elected.

Candidates for City Council

Ayah Al-Zubi

Al-Zubi is a community organizer who came one place shy of joining City Council in the 2023 race when counting No. 1. Born in Jordan and raised across the Midwest, she moved to Cambridge to attend Harvard College. She graduated in 2023.

Housing: Al-Zubi hopes to leverage municipal and borrowed funds to build social housing, which would create publicly owned units at affordable and market rates to create mixed-income buildings. This plan involves the city issuing a bond order of $50 million to implement. She is in favor of keeping inclusionary zoning at its current 20 percent affordable rate, but expressed concern about the environmental impact of recent upzoning. “We can at least make amendments to the reform so that they’re more reflective of an equitable way to address environmental concerns,” she told Cambridge Day.

Bike lanes: Al-Zubi has made the Cycling Safety Ordinance pledge and is one of Cambridge Bicycle Safety’s “bike champions” and an advocate for improving road safety education.

Side issue: Creation of a city-owned grocery store in Central Square, the first of its kind in Cambridge.

Burhan Azeem

Azeem is a founder of a housing advocacy nonprofit and has a background in data engineering. In 2021, he became the youngest council member to be elected in the city of Cambridge.

Housing: Azeem was one of eight councillors voting in favor of the February upzoning. He wrote legislation to abolish minimum parking space requirements, making Cambridge the first city in Massachusetts to do so. “People deserve housing security. Cambridge must build more transit-oriented housing and pursue development without displacement through tenant protections,” he writes. “We need to build more, greener housing without sacrificing the essence of Cambridge. Our city must remain walkable and transit-based.”

Bike lanes: Azeem has made the Cycling Safety Ordinance pledge and is a “bike champion.”

Side issue: Cambridge getting a seat on MBTA’s board to advocate for improved service.

LaQueen Battle

Note: Battle, also a School Committee candidate, does not have a published campaign platform, nor has she responded to interview requests. The below candidate summary is based on her responses to the Cambridge Bicycle Safety questionnaire and an interview with Cambridge Community Television.

Battle is a home health aide and contract worker for Instawork, a company that provides short-term “gig” economy work, and runs the nonprofit Battle First Aid Responder Services. She has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish language and literature from Purdue University and takes classes through Harvard Medical School’s online education program. She lived in South Chicago for 10 years before moving to Massachusetts.

Housing: “I’m really thankful that the city of Cambridge is actually doing a lot of changes,” Battle told CCTV, without specifying which changes she supported. She said the city should tackle ways to improve homeownership next.

Bike lanes: Battle has pledged to complete the Cycling Safety Ordinance but has concerns about removing available parking space, according to her Cambridge Bike Safety questionnaire. She is endorsed as a “bike supporter” but not a “bike champion.”

Side issue: Improving maintenance at the Cambridge Public Library’s Valente Branch in East Cambridge.

Elizabeth Bisio

Bisio, a former emergency room nurse and telehealth employee, co-founded a company two years ago that provides veterinarian services online and in-person.

Housing: Bisio is a member of the Repeal Slate. Bisio believes neighborhoods should have more input in the design of new buildings and wants to increase a minimum setback requirement now at 5 feet. “People just don’t feel heard right now,” she told Cambridge Day.

Bike lanes: Bisio is against removing parking spaces to install bike lanes without neighborhood input. She is not endorsed by Cambridge Bicycle Safety and has not taken the pledge to complete the Cycling Safety Ordinance.

Side issue: Expanding services for Cantabrigians experiencing homelessness and/or opioid use disorder, and making sure services are distributed throughout the city.

Dana Bullister

Bullister is a doctoral student in public policy design at Northeastern University with a background in data science. She came 14th in drawing No. 1 votes in 2021 in a field of 21 candidates for nine seats.

Housing: Bullister supports the recent adoption of multifamily zoning citywide. One of her main proposals is for a land value tax that would discourage the hoarding of unused lots. “I’m proposing that we petition the state for the ability to enact a split-rate tax structure that allows the value that we tax land to be different from the value that we tax the buildings on that land,” she told Cambridge Day. “That essentially allows us to lower the taxes on the value of buildings and potentially raise the taxes on the value of land underneath those buildings.”

Bike lanes: Bullister has made the Bicycle Safety Ordinance pledge and is one of Cambridge Bicycle Safety’s “bike champions.”

Side issue: Dynamic pricing for the city’s metered parking spaces in which the first 15 minutes are free, and then prices change based on how busy a particular area is, with the goal of maintaining 85 percent occupancy.

Tim Flaherty

Flaherty is a 30-year trial attorney specializing in criminal defense and has experience as a prosecutor. He was sentenced to a year of probation during which he was unable to practice law after facing a federal witness-tampering charge in 2015, reduced to a lesser state charge in 2016 to which he pleaded guilty. Flaherty has run for state Senate twice.

Housing: Flaherty strongly opposes the recent upzoning. To improve neighborhood affordability, Flaherty supports financial incentives to convert or renovate underused properties, including offices, into homes and increasing housing near transit.

Bike lanes: Flaherty supports bike lane expansion and bicycle-priority streets in some cases but has concerns about forgoing parking spaces. He is not endorsed by Cambridge Bicycle Safety and has not taken the pledge to complete the Cycling Safety Ordinance.

Side issue: Instituting a citywide youth violence reduction program focusing on Cambridge’s 16-to-24-year-olds. He argues for services that incorporate mental health approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. “The goal is to reduce incarceration, sustain employment, and improve parenting,” he writes on his website.

John Hanratty

Hanratty is a retired tech executive and entrepreneur. In his 2023 run for council, he placed 14th out of 24 candidates in terms of No. 1 votes. He is the founder of the Neighborhood Nine Coalition, an organization that informs neighborhood residents on municipal policy changes and gets them involved in the policy process.

Housing: Hanratty is a member of the Repeal Slate. “Community character is erased in favor of density-at-all-costs policies with no plan for green space, accessibility or livability,” he writes.

Bike lanes: Hanratty is against the construction of bike lanes without community input and was part of a group that sued in 2022 to undo lanes that has been installed.

Side issue: Cambridge’s $1 billion budget. He wants to eliminate inefficient projects and programs, pointing to a $77 million renovation to Cambridge fire headquarters as an example.

Peter Hsu

Hsu is a doctor, working as a pediatric oncologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and as a hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the United States when he was 12.

Housing: Hsu is a member of the Repeal Slate who says he is in favor of expanding affordable housing with neighborhood input.

Bike lanes: Hsu has pledged to complete the Cycling Safety Ordinance (the only Repeal Slate member to do so). He is endorsed by Cambridge Bicycle Safety as a “bike supporter” but not a “bike champion.” He hopes to strengthen road safety education.

Side issue: Strengthening collaboration between existing city departments to expand access to addiction medicine and mental health services. “We need strong, compassionate systems beyond hospital walls,” he writes.

Marc McGovern

McGovern is a social worker who works with at-risk children and families. He grew up in Cambridge and attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. He served on the School Committee for 10 years beginning in 2003 and has been mayor and vice mayor on the council.

Housing: McGovern was one of eight councillors voting in favor of the city’s recent upzoning was was a vote to increase Cambridge’s inclusionary zoning rate to 20 percent to increase the amount developers pay into the Affordable Housing Trust to build in Cambridge, and for the Affordable Housing Overlay, which encourages development of buildings with 100 percent affordable units.

Bike lanes: McGovern was lead sponsor on the Cycling Safety Ordinance and is a Cambridge Bicycle Safety champion.

Side issue: Animal welfare. “I’ve been an advocate for animal rights and welfare, taking on the pet shop lobby and bad breeders and working for more parks for our city’s dogs,” he writes.

Ned Melanson

Melanson is a public defender in Cambridge District Court and the co-founder of Melanson Law Group, which specializes in helping people with disabilities claim benefits.

Housing: Melanson supports the multifamily and Affordable Housing Overlay zonings and wants to defend the measures from repeal.

Bike lanes: Melanson is a bike champion who wants to improve connectivity so biking becomes a reliable mode of transportation for all Cantabrigians. “I want the bike network to be so good that you can send your kid out the door to school on their own,” he told Cambridge Day.

Side issue: Improving accessibility citywide, including investing in all-terrain mats for public events and providing live closed captioning for public meetings.

Patty Nolan

Nolan has a background in startups and corporate consulting. She attended Harvard College as an undergraduate and earned a master’s degree in policy, planning and management from the Yale School of Management. Before winning election to the council, she served 14 years on the School Committee.

Housing: Nolan was one of eight councillors voting in favor of the city’s recent upzoning. Concerned about neighborhood character, she negotiated a compromise that lowered base zoning height to four stories from the proposed six. She was a leader on the one-year moratorium on development in the Alewife area so comprehensive zoning could be done.

Bike lanes: Nolan has supported expanded bike lanes and wants to incorporate data on dangerous intersections and automated traffic enforcement into city policy, while “ensuring that the needs of small businesses and residents with mobility limitations are incorporated into decisions.” She is endorsed by Cambridge Bicycle Safety as a “bike supporter” but not a “bike champion.”

Side issue: Updating the city’s governing charter, which had not seen significant review or in eight decades. It’s on the Nov. 4 ballot because of Nolan’s efforts starting in 2020.

Stanislav Rivkin

Rivkin is a graduate student in the Harvard Kennedy School’s mid-career Master’s in Public Administration program. Rivkin’s family immigrated to the United States from Uzbekistan when he was a child; his family was helped by social housing, food and health programs, inspiring him to study public policy. He is an associate director of admissions for the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has spent 15 years working on programs that support at-risk youth.

Housing: Rivkin wants to focus on building in transportation-rich squares and corridors rather than in less accessible neighborhoods through public investment and expanded municipal vouchers.

Bike lanes: Rivkin is a Cambridge Bicycle Safety “bike supporter” who says he wants to distribute parking more fairly and efficiently; separate cars from bikes through protected lanes where feasible; implement traffic calming measures; and enforce traffic laws for all modes of transport.

Side issue: Protecting Cantabrigians from the local effects of the Trump Administration, including by “establishing legal aid support to Cambridge residents who come under attack for their documentation status, free speech, or free exercise of the press,” he writes.

Zion Sherin

Sherin is a recent Cornell graduate with a business background in the solar energy sector, according to his LinkedIn. Sherin hopes to use his degree and work experience to bring more financial transparency to Cantabrigians and advocates for clearer communications from City Hall.

Housing: Sherin is a Repeal Slate member who hopes to put together an expert panel to rework zoning across the city, saying government needs to “understand that Cambridge has different areas which have different zoning.” He wants to see first-time buyers’ assistance expanded.

Bike lanes: While he expresses support for protected bike lanes and walkable neighborhoods, he believes they must be coupled with parking alternatives and community input. He is not endorsed by Cambridge Bicycle Safety.

Side issue: Clear government communication. “I will push for plain-language notices, honest budgeting and accessible tools that let people engage without needing to be experts,” he says.

Sumbul Siddiqui

Siddiqui, the first Muslim mayor in Massachusetts history. She has lived in Cambridge since her family emigrated from Pakistan when she was 2. An attorney, she worked at Northeast Legal Aid, representing low-income entrepreneurs and small-business owners.

Housing: Siddiqui voted for the city’s recent upzoning, has advocated for an Office of Housing Stability, for raising the amount developers must contribute to fund the Affordable Housing Trust and for adopting a local transfer tax on large real estate transactions.

Bike lanes: This “bike champion” says lanes being installed under the Cycling Safety Ordinance make Cambridge measurably safer and more accessible for people who bike, as well as helping meet sustainability goals, but “we need to better communicate the tradeoffs involved and take a more proactive approach to mitigation rather than reacting after issues arise.”

Side issue: While mayor, Siddiqui was instrumental in establishing Rise Up Cambridge, a nonlottery guaranteed-income program. Covid-era funding ran dry in early 2025, but Siddiqui is determined to find ways to fund a successor program. “I am proud of the progress and remain committed to continuing this work,” she writes.

E. Denise Simmons

Simmons, the city’s longest-serving city councillor, has dedicated the past 30-plus years to public service, including serving as executive director of the Cambridge Civic Unity Committee in the 1980s. She was elected to the School Committee in the 1990s, then to City Council in 2001. In 2008, she was elevated to mayor, becoming the nation’s first Black openly lesbian mayor. She served as mayor again this most recent term and is seeking her thirteenth term as a councillor.

Housing: The Housing Committee of the council was long a Simmons bailiwick, and the slate of “pro-housing” candidates compiled by the group A Better Cambridge says she “played a key role in shepherding both the original 100 percent Affordable Housing Overlay and its 2023 expansion and supported tripling the linkage fee that commercial developers pay into the Affordable Housing Trust.”.

Bike lanes: One of only two council incumbents to get a “do not rank” suggestion from the Cambridge Bike Safety group as having a voting record “opposed” to what the group considers a street safety agenda.

Side issue: Simmons is a reliable voice for Cambridge’s seniors and its religious institutions. Rare is the project or law that gets examined without Simmons bringing up the need for older residents and the interfaith community to be considered and included.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

Between council terms Sobrinho-Wheeler became New England progressive governance director for the Working Families Party to craft legislation on affordable housing, child care and sustainability, among other issues.

Housing: A reliable vote for zoning reforms, Sobrinho-Wheeler says he wants to keep updating citywide planning and zoning to knock down barriers to creating more homes – including new versions of the iconic triple-deckers, which were removed from zoning decades ago – and end exclusionary zoning. Along with more affordable housing, he wants to strengthen renter rights and pass a rent stabilization ordinance, create a Cambridge Community Land Trust and incentivize conversion of underused offices to housing by streamlining city permitting.

Bike lanes: Sobrinho-Wheeler is a bike champions and has opposed delays imposed on bike lane installation – the Cambridge Bike Safety group says his voting record on street safety is “perfect” – and wants fare-free buses and bus priority lanes.

Side issue: Public financing of municipal elections and working toward citizen-funded elections statewide.

Louise Venden

After earning a master’s degree in real estate finance, Venden left Wisconsin and worked as a bank real estate asset portfolio manager before transitioning onto running a nine-room inn on Beacon Hill. She served on the select board and finance committee in Provincetown before relocating to Cambridge, where she is a write-in candidate, the result of a paperwork error on the final day of the Election Commission nomination period.

Housing: Venden suggests recent zoning changes meant to incentivize construction of housing, including affordable housing, has been done without adequate care, with the Affordable Housing Overlay of 2020 bringing only 62 homes so far and multifamily housing zoning inadvertently leading to institutional growth and a half-million dollars as part of a legal settlement.

Bike lanes: By committing to complete a bicycle network by 2026, Venden won the endorsement of the Cambridge Bike Safety group. She wants to reduce car use, including by enforcing speed limits using cameras, track where bike and pedestrian accidents have happened and reduce risk through better lighting, signs and trimming of hedges and tree limbs that obscure views.

Side issue: Reforming how the city pays for child care to put more vouchers into the hands of families directly to encourage services that better match the needs of families. A focus on accountability is key to the Venden campaign, which has critiqued some actions in the past as just “voting for progressive policies and programs” without ensuring there are measures showing how well government does in achieving them.

Ayesha Wilson

Wilson is a lifelong Cambridge resident who grew up in Jefferson Park housing and previously worked with high school students through the Cambridge Housing Authority’s The Work Force Program, teaching students life and career skills. She’s now executive director of the state chapter of Emerge, which trains Democrats who identify as women to run for office. Wilson is a former School Committee member. She is also the only candidate to be endorsed by both A Better Cambridge and the Cambridge Citizens Coalition, which have opposing points of view around housing developments.

Housing: A supporter of recent zoning changes meant to encourage housing construction, Wilson put forth a “three-plus-three” model with Sobrinho-Wheeler that was defeated 5-4 before the current “four-plus-two” model was passed.

Bike lanes: She is one of only two council incumbents to get a “do not rank” suggestion from the Cambridge Bike Safety group. Shock over the rollout of Garden Street bike lanes near Wilson’s home has kept her suspicious of the projects, which she has been ready to delay since for fear that the space given to separated bike lanes will be implemented without serious consideration to the needs for car parking and other mobility issues for parents, seniors, people with disabilities and business owners.

Side issue: As a social worker, Wilson calls for more investment in mental health services, noting that agencies now have waitlists several months long. She advocates for wellness checks and a safety crisis line for seniors who are being targeted, neglected and abused.

Robert Winters

Winters writes for the Cambridge Civic Journal and Cambridge Candidate Pages, in which he documents civic life in the city. He is a mathematics lecturer at Harvard Extension School and previously taught at MIT.

Housing: Winters has opposed citywide zoning changes (calling the recent multifamily housing ordinance “ill-begotten”). A unique underpinning for it is that as a member of the Envision Cambridge master planning advisory committee and its Housing Working Group, he feels its target of 12,500 more homes by 2030 was unsupported the months of working leading up to the final report. “When the Envision Cambridge report came out with that as a recommendation, I said, ‘Where the hell did that come from?’” Winters told city councillors in October 2024. “This is based on fiction.”

Bike lanes: He is not endorsed by Cambridge Bicycle Safety and has not taken the pledge to complete the Cycling Safety Ordinance. In an interview with the Harvard Crimson, he called some of the current lanes “hostile design” and “ridiculous.”

Side issue: Winters has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to environmental issues. In the 1980s, he helped organize the city’s first recycling program.

Cathie Zusy

Zusy led efforts to revitalize Magazine Beach Park, earning the moniker “Magazine Beach Lady.” A former museum curator, she worked to restore St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Church and started the community art event “If This House Could Talk …” which educates attendees on historic Cambridgeport houses. She joined the council in a special election in 2024 after the death of councillor Joan Pickett.

Housing: Zusy wants to focus on Envision Cambridge goals of adding height and density in squares and along traffic corridors instead of risking big changes to low-lying neighborhoods by allowing higher structures citywide through multifamily housing. she was the sole vote against the “four-plus-two” model in place with four stories allowed by right and another two allowed if affordable units are included. She has called instead for starting with incentivizing low- to middle-income development with inclusionary requirements, create a Cambridge Land Trust, asking Harvard and MIT to house more of their grad students, finding underutilized lots and engaging neighborhood associations to help solve the housing crisis.

Bike lanes: As a bicyclist who feels safer in separated lanes but has called to slow bike lane installation until parking alternatives are in place, Zusy’s responses to Cambridge Bike Safety group concerns are mostly straight down the middle. Similarly, she is generally supportive of ideas around promoting bike safety with the caveat that some need to be gauged with constricted city finances in mind.

Side issue: Fiscal responsibility has been Zusy’s constant refrain since she arrived on the council, with everything from stations for more rental Bluebikes to the study of reusing an MBTA tunnel under Harvard Square as an entertainment venue tested against the idea that the city should reserve its money for increasingly tighter times.

This post was updated Nov. 3, 2025, to add Cathie Zusy to a list of Cambridge Bicycle Safety group “supporters.”

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