Alum forced to postpone place for office

Correction: Due to an error from sources, a previous version of the Oct. 11 article “Alum forced to postpone place for office” included a quote from Justin Murad that stated voters feared there would be repercussions from Tim McCarthy, the current City Councilor-at-Large for district five of Boston, for signing the petition to get his name on the ballot. This is incorrect, as it was not based on any factual circumstance. It was previously published that McCarthy held the position for 20 years. This is incorrect as he was elected in 2013.

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After not receiving enough votes to qualify, former Suffolk University government major Justin Murad was unable to make the ballot on May 23 in his efforts of running for City Councilor-at-large for District five of Boston.

Each candidate who intended to run for a position needed a total of 250 signatures from registered voters within the candidate’s proposed district. This amount of 250 signatures was a compulsory requirement by May 23; a target date Murad did not attain. The most significant problem for Murad he said in a recent interview with The Suffolk Journal, was his approach in trying to obtain signatures.

“Me and my group went around knocking on doors and standing outside of grocery stores, asking if they would sign my petition to be on the ballot,” said Murad.

People were reluctant to give Murad their signatures and Murad said he recognized that the security of people’s ties to other candidates in his community lead to his defeat.

Said Murad of the loyalty people in his community have felt to other candidates, “A lot of other people were afraid that if they were to sign it there would be some kind of repercussion from the other person that they were supporting.”

One of the biggest challenges Murad faced is his most influential adversary, Timothy McCarthy, who has been the City Councilor-at-Large for district five of Boston for 20 years.

“I guess the upper hand he had on me was the fact that he’s the incumbent, he’s well known [and] he’s older,” said Murad. “It is harder to get your point across when somebody who [has] been in the district for so long, running the district for so long.”

Aside from his defeat, Murad still plans to run against McCarthy in the 2019 election cycle and hopes that his seat will be more available during that time.