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Housing and development were on the ballot in many Greater Boston cities and towns last night, and they seem to have come out on top in many communities.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, whose development policies have gained her a fraught relationship with the real estate industry, cruised to victory after trouncing challenger Josh Kraft in the September preliminary election.

But less expected was her ability to keep a one-time political sparring partner, former city councilor Frank Baker, from ousting her ally, at-large City Councilor Henry Santana, who beat Baker by 15,558 votes, or 549 basis points, for the final at-large seat. The election left the Boston City Council largely unchanged except for the addition of community activist and longtime housing lawyer Rev. Miniard Culpepper to represent Roxbury’s District 7.

Santana’s win should be a win for housing reforms in Boston, said Jesse Kanson-Benanav, head of statewide housing advocacy group Abundant Housing Massachusetts.

“He’s been a really strong voice for pro-housing zoning reforms on the council,” he said, citing Santana’s recent effort to start a process that could eventually re-legalize triple-deckers in more city neighborhoods. “There’s a lot of work to do in Boston but having him and folks like Councilors [Enrique] Pepén and [Sharon] Durkan on the council helps.”

Pro-Development Mayor Loses in Everett

The biggest upset of the night happened in Everett, where 17-year incumbent Mayor Carlo DeMaria was booted from office by City Councilor Robert Van Campen, 54 percent to 45 percent, in the wake of a mayoral pay scandal this year and a pitched political battle with the former city schools superintendent in 2023.

Van Campen’s campaign platform included pledges to “stop oversized projects that do not belong on side streets and focus big development in areas where it is needed most,” citing “blighted areas” as good candidates for new development.

Under DeMaria, Everett rezoned a 100-acre area south of Revere Beach Parkway known as the “Commercial Triangle.” The move has seen around 3,000 new apartments rise amid scrap yards and light industrial properties, with room for around 17,000 more at full build-out.

Van Campen also pledged to “improve inclusionary zoning to deepen affordability, and only support new projects that put residents first.”

Everett currently requires 15 percent of housing projects with 10 or more units be set aside as affordable housing at 80 percent of area median income, or 10 percent of units at 60 percent of area median income. Developments in a FEMA floodplain or on parcels with contamination – in practice, covering all of the Commercial Triangle – see those ratios drop to 10 percent of units at 80 percent of area median income to account for their increased development costs.

A spokesperson said Van Campen was unavailable for comment Wednesday morning, but a major shift in Everett’s housing policy could reduce the Boston region’s already anemic housing production numbers.

Pro-Housing Forces Hold the Line in Cambridge

While one city councilor endorsed by local pro-housing group A Better Cambridge, Ayesha Wilson, lost her seat, city voters returned every other councilor running who backed the city’s landmark February upzoning. The change allows 4-story multifamily developments by-right anywhere in the city, and 6-story projects by-right if 20 percent of their units are affordable housing, although historic preservation battles are slowing down the first tranche of projects to try and take advantage of it.

The city Planning Board also endorsed a proposal last week to allow dramatically taller buildings on parcels immediately fronting a pair of major streets in East and North Cambridge.

While the total share of first-choice votes won by ABC-endorsed candidates fell from the 2023 municipal election’s 68.19 percent, this year the group’s slate commanded 61.78 percent. The Cambridge City Council is elected in a ranked-choice voting system, and all councilors serve at large.

“It certainly wasn’t a backlash against the reforms – it was an endorsement,” Kanson-Benanav said.

In neighboring Somerville, longtime youth soccer program head and City Councilor Jake Wilson beat City Councilor Willie Burnley Jr. 54 percent to 44 percent.

Burnley had earned the endorsement of local pro-housing group Somerville YIMBY for his support of a Cambridge-style, citywide upzoning, while Wilson ran on a platform that included upzoning areas around transit stations, similar to Boston’s slow-moving Squares + Streets program.

But Wilson also raised eyebrows in the development world by declaring his opposition to Mill Creek Residential’s proposal for a 30-story apartment tower in Davis Square last week. The project is opposed by a local merchant group. The housing portion of Wilson’s campaign platform also called for using tax increment financing districts to raise money for higher affordability ratios in new developments.

Despite a backlash against a more modest citywide upzoning in Medford, the councilors behind it retained their 6-1 majority on the City Council.

And in Salem, where voters had a chance to react to a new ordinance eliminating parking mandates at new multifamily developments, voters returned Mayor Dominick Pangallo for his first full term. Pangallo was formerly the chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll when she was mayor of Salem until her election to higher office in 2022. Voters also backed every AHMA-endorsed councilor to City Hall, giving pro-housing activists a majority on the body.

“Candidates who ran on a pro-housing message did well,” Kanson-Benanav said. “I think this election shows that running on housing isn’t a death knell for a campaign.”