Mayoral Election Roundup: What the candidates said about JP

With 12 candidates running for mayor, polls are naturally showing a close race and many voters still undecided just days before the Sept. 24 preliminary election. For Jamaica Plain citizens still rubbing their chins–or scratching their heads–at the choices, we offer this recap of what the candidates had to say in and about JP.

Chris Faraone’s “Politics as Unusual” was the first, and still the most comprehensive, column about the mayoral race. The Gazette debuted “Politics as Unusual” the day after Mayor Thomas Menino stunned the city by announcing he would not run for re-election, and Faraone has provided his unique take on the race every week since then. The entire archive of “Politics as Unusual” is here, and Faraone recently wrote his own greatest-hits column.

The Gazette invited all of the candidates to its office for in-depth interviews. Only three candidates either did not respond or could not arrange to visit JP: radio station founder Charles Clemons, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley, and Jackson Square resident David James Wyatt.

For the Gazette’s interviews with the other candidates, click the links in the list below. In a sign of what a big electoral prize JP is, several of the candidates gave their first major interview to the Gazette. (Lest we forget, JP held the race’s first open candidate forum back in May.)

City Councilor and JP resident Felix G. Arroyo

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative Executive Director John Barros

City Councilor John Connolly

City Councilor Rob Consalvo

Former state Rep. Charlotte Golar Richie

City Councilor Mike Ross

Codman Square Health Center founder Bill Walczak

State Rep. Marty Walsh

City Councilor Charles Yancey

Preliminary election voters in the Woodbourne area will see four candidates for their District 4 Boston City Council seat on the ballot, where Yancey is running for re-election at the same time he is running for mayor. To see what those candidates told the Gazette, see this story.