Longtime District 6 resident Kelly Ransom has made the “incredibly difficult decision” to withdraw her city council campaign. Kendra Hicks and Mary Tamor are the remaining District 6 candidates. Ransom has written the following letter, which was sent out by her campaign and is posted on her website:
“I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my 2021 campaign for District Six Boston City Council due to an immediate family member’s emergency medical situation.
I was advised to write a brief and to-the-point statement announcing this development in my life and my campaign. But, that’s just not me.
I’ve run this campaign as I live my life: authentically and without hesitation. I speak up, speak out, show up, and show out loudly and proudly every day of my life for the betterment of my community. I am fully committed to continuing to do this work in my personal and professional life. The work doesn’t stop because the campaign has to.
I love my hometowns. Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, Roslindale, Back of the Hill, and Roxbury are threaded into the core of my being, my heart, and my soul.
There is only one other collective in my life that makes up a larger piece of who I am and what I stand for and that is my family. My family needs me in a way that I have never been needed before. While withdrawing from this race is one of the most painful decisions I have ever made for myself, the thought of losing fleeting time with a family member is a pain that I cannot carry inside me for the rest of my time on this earth.
I want to thank everyone who joined me on this journey to create a more equitable, accessible, and inclusive District Six. I am endlessly grateful for the family, supporters, mentors, neighbors, and community members who have invested their time, energy, and resources into my campaign. I will be reaching out individually to those who helped make this campaign the incredible movement that it is as I find the strength and space to balance my new responsibilities with my emotional and mental well-being. Please allow me space and time during this intensely exhausting and soulfully draining moment in my life.
District Six is in good hands. A strong, brave, tenacious woman of color will be our next representative on the Council, and the joy that I feel when I think of the direction we are headed in as a City is pure and vibrational.
I look forward to continued collaboration with everyone who makes District Six the special place that it is when the time comes for me to run for public office again. This has been an illuminating experience that has filled me with deeper understanding, gratitude, and love, both love for myself and love for my city.
Thank you for understanding that I need to put my family first and for respecting my privacy during this time.
See you soon.
Peace & gratitude,
Kelly Ransom”