The field of at-large City Council candidates stands at eight, as the four incumbents run for another two-year term and four challengers look to knock them out of a spot.

Voters who go to the polls this fall will be able to choose up to four candidates on their at-large forms. District seats are also on the ballot, including an opening in Dorchester’s District 3, while the mayor’s seat is not up again until 2025.

The four incumbents — Michael Flaherty of South Boston, Ruthzee Louijeune of Hyde Park, and Dorchester residents Erin Murphy and Julia Mejia — lead the fundraising ranks this year, in that order. Flaherty, who returned to the Council in 2014, has pulled in $117,220 so far this year, and he has the largest campaign war chest with $222,617 in cash on hand.

Behind Flaherty in fundraising totals for the year were Louijeune ($97,285, with $125,030 in cash on hand); Murphy ($92,068, with $76,533 on hand); and Mejia ($57,937, with $37,426 on hand).

Among the at-large challengers, Henry Santana, who worked for Mayor Wu and former District 8 Councillor Kenzie Bok, led the field, with $17,169 raised and $11,419 on hand as summer gets underway. He is a Columbia Point resident who grew up in public housing in Mission Hill after immigrating from the Dominican Republic. His most recent job was as Wu’s director of civic organizing.

The other challengers have struggled to reach the triple digits. Mattapan’s Clifton Braithwaite, who worked on several local campaigns before launching his own this year, has raised just over $200, while another candidate, Dorchester’s Catherine Vitale, raised $211. Vitale is known for protesting masking policies stemming from the pandemic and harassing the mayor and Wu administration officials.

Another at-large candidate, Shaun Nelson, also of Dorchester, made headlines when he was arrested a year ago while attempting to charge at the mayor in Ronan Park. He also confronted Louijeune at a separate event in Hyde Park. His campaign account has $57, according to publicly available records.

At-large candidates had to gather 1,500 voter signatures in order to make the ballot. Juwan Skeens, who lives off Norfolk Street in Dorchester, wasn’t able to to do so. He plans to run a write-in campaign.

District 5 sees another entrant
District 5 Councillor Ricardo Arroyo, who is running for reelection after losing a bruising battle for the Suffolk District Attorney’s office last fall, has another challenger.

Enrique Pepen, who heads up Mayor Wu’s neighborhood services team, is setting up a campaign to take on Arroyo, joining a Hyde Park police officer and a longtime Mattapan neighborhood activist on the list of challengers. The news was first reported by Politico Massachusetts.

Pepen, a son of Dominican immigrants, was born in Boston and now lives in Roslindale. He previously lived in Dorchester’s Columbia/Savin Hill area, and started at City Hall as an intern for former District 7 Councillor Tito Jackson. He went on to work as a district coordinator for former US Rep. Joe Kennedy III, and then came back to City Hall as the Jamaica Plain liaison for the Office of Neighborhood Services. He also had a stint at the advocacy group Transportation for Massachusetts. Matt Kearney of Dorchester is serving as Pepen’s campaign chairman.

District 5, anchored by Hyde Park, where Arroyo lives, also includes parts of Mattapan and Roslindale.

Jose Ruiz, a police officer, is another challenger who launched his campaign this week and took aim at Arroyo, saying he has been “engulfed in multiple scandals and controversies.” The most recent involved former US Attorney Rachael Rollins leaking information to reporters in a bid to help Arroyo and upend interim DA Kevin Hayden’s campaign for the permanent post. Hayden ended up beating Arroyo in last September’s primary.

“I want to end the vitriol and infighting we have seen on the Council as of late and bring the focus back to where it belongs: delivering for our constituents,” Ruiz said in an email to supporters.

Mattapan’s Jean-Claude Sanon, who has previously run for District 5, is also running against Arroyo.