STATE SEN. WILLIAM BROWNSBERGER paced the recount floor of Boston City Hall on Wednesday, never stopping for longer than a minute.
Crossed arms, weaving his way through the tables where election workers carefully sifted through hundreds of ballots while poll watchers loomed over their shoulders, the incumbent senator whose political career may be on the line closely watched the tallies.
Watertown and Boston on Wednesday were recounting the ballots cast in the nail-biting Suffolk & Middlesex District Senate race. Thursday recounts in Belmont and Cambridge will complete the district.
By the first unofficial count, challenger Daniel Lander pulled ahead of Brownsberger by three votes out of nearly 25,000 cast. Later counts showed Brownsberger in the lead by just over two dozen. The results of this week’s recount will settle who wins the district – a longtime incumbent and the third-most powerful Democrat in the Senate, or a challenger with the backing of political rival Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
Brownsberger did not show up to Boston City Hall alone Wednesday. He was joined by a show of support from his fellow senators.
Eleven senators were at City Hall throughout the day Wednesday: State Sens. Sal DiDomenico of Everett, Michael Rodrigues of Westport, William Driscoll of Milton, Joan Lovely of Salem, Jake Oliveira of Ludlow, Robyn Kennedy of Worcester, Adam Gomez of Springfield, John Cronin of Fitchburg, Pavel Payano of Lawrence, John Velis of Westfield, and Brendan Crighton of Lynn. Some got there early in the morning, sporting casual clothes and drinking the Dunkin’ coffee provided for volunteers, while Brownsberger paced in his suit.
Most of the present senators served as poll watchers for Brownsberger’s campaign.
Rep. Steve Owens of Watertown also watched the election count on Brownsberger’s behalf, as did a number of staff members for Senate President Karen Spilka and other Senate staffers.
Former Boston City Councilor Frank Baker, a Wu adversary, was a poll watcher for the Brownsberger campaign, and current Councilor Ed Flynn observed from the sidelines.
“It’s almost a caucus in the Senate here as volunteers because my opponent doesn’t have a grassroots operation,” Lander said in an interview, on the side of the recount floor. As opposed to Brownsberger, Lander mainly watched the event from a banister overlooking the floor where election workers tallied ballots.
“Personally, I believe that there’s a lot of business that is undone on Beacon Hill right now that would be a perfectly good use of the first Wednesday after Labor Day to get done,” he said. “Things like getting phones out of our high schools, things like building more affordable housing, expanding the public transportation system, but again and again, Senate leadership is unwilling to work on that.”
Included in the poll watchers for Lander’s campaign were some top Wu allies.
Though the recount started around 1 p.m., election workers and poll watchers began arriving at City Hall around 8 a.m., they said, some grumbling about the early hour and then long wait for the action to start.
Rodrigues, chair of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee, told the News Service he left his house in Westport at 6:30 a.m. to make it to Boston City Hall.
As the recount was about to get underway, Lander recount attorney John Gannon, who has worked on local recounts as well as the 2000 Bush vs. Gore recount in Florida, asked if “out of respect” for the city election workers, they should be aware of a deadline for the day.
“We believe we’re going to finish today, just keep going,” the election official replied.
Gannon and Brownsberger’s recount attorney, Dennis Newman, who also worked on the 2000 recount in Florida, both circled the recount floor along with the incumbent senator.
There were a handful of disputes.
Brownsberger often flagged Newman down to investigate a possible question, and Gannon raised his hand to get the attention of election officials when there was an issue at some of the tables.
Around 2:50 p.m., most of the tables were done counting. Those recounting for Wards 21 and 22, covering parts of Allston, Brighton, and Fenway were the last remaining.
