In the end, it came down to one precinct in Mattapan.

In a 10-2 vote on the political boundaries of the nine district seats, councillors late last week agreed to keep Ward 14-Precinct 14, which includes Wellington Hill and Morning Star Baptist Church, in District 5 (Hyde Park and Mattapan, represented by Ricardo Arroyo), rather than shift it to District 4 (a Dorchester and Mattapan seat represented by Brian Worrell).

Arroyo had pressed to keep the precinct and others in Mattapan, arguing that shifting them to District 4 would further dilute and divide the Black vote and hurt the neighborhood. While he publicly denied taking his own electoral future into consideration when making that argument, Precinct 14 voters overwhelmingly voted for him over Roslindale’s Kevin Hayden in last fall’s race for Suffolk district attorney.

Arroyo, who is up for reelection this fall and likely will face at least two challengers, was unsuccessful in throwing overboard a District 5 precinct that contributed to his DA loss last fall: Ward 20-Precinct 8, which is also Hayden’s home precinct, stays in District 5. Arroyo and District 6 Councillor Kendra Lara had repeatedly insisted that shifting that precinct into District 6 would unite West Roxbury in Lara’s district, despite public documents and a number of local residents noting that it is a Roslindale precinct.

With 14-14 staying in District 5, Arroyo ended up voting with nine other councillors in voting for the map put together by At-Large Councillor Ruthzee Louijeune. Signed by Mayor Wu days later, the map showcased the legislative and navigational skills of Louijeune, a Hyde Park-Mattapan native who kept her head as Councillor At-Large Julia Mejia and District 3 Councillor Frank Baker seemingly lost theirs.

Redistricting is a once-a-decade exercise in a redrawing of the nine city council districts. The result is a physical map, but it is also the final act in a drama that largely existed in the minds of councillors and various groups within City Hall's orbit.

If it passes legal muster, the map, endorsed by the council’s conservatives and most of its progressives, will stand in elections over the next decade.

Mejia and Lara, who had her own map that didn’t touch the line between Districts 4 and 5, were the “no” votes.

The background to this maneuvering was the ruling by a federal judge who threw out a map the council passed last fall and noted that a lawsuit against it — funded by Baker and three other councillors who alleged that race was illegally predominant in councillor discussions – had a likelihood of success.

At the center of the lawsuit were largely white precincts in Dorchester’s Neponset and Adams Village, which were shifted from District 3 to District 4. Florian Hall, which hosts some of the area’s most conservative voters, was part of the shift.

The night before the 10-2 vote, councillors kept sparring over which precincts would go where, and Arroyo and Mejia, both lobbying against changes Louijeune was seeking, brought Wu’s name into the spat. Arroyo said that under the map passed in 2012 and in effect in 2021, Wu lost District 5 to acting Mayor Kim Janey in the mayoral election, while a map that removes District 5’s Mattapan precincts, including Ward 14-Precinct 14, would mean Wu wins the area. (In fact, Wu won District 5 in 2021, per a Reporter review of results.)

During the discussion, Mejia tossed into the mix a conspiracy theory, as she readily termed it, claiming without evidence that under Wu, City Hall attorneys tasked with defending last fall’s map opted against doing so.

Baker, who isn’t running for reelection, couldn’t resist bringing up the lawsuit, either, saying he would be happy to continue bankrolling it. “Don’t forget, we won,” he said, “You guys were wrong.”

The Dorchester councillor, who spent most of last fall steaming over the changes to District 3, appeared to keep his temper mostly in check when inside the chamber. Outside in the hallway, it was a different story.

At one point during public testimony, District 3 candidate Barry Lawton criticized Baker, who had left the room, saying, "He took his ball and went home.” At that point, Baker rushed back into the Council chamber. "Yeah, you missed the good stuff," Lawton said.

Baker asked him to step outside into the hallway and left the chamber, followed by District 2 Councillor Ed Flynn, the Council’s president. When Lawton stepped outside, Baker yelled, "You want to talk [expletive]?"

Flynn sought to block Baker from coming close to Lawton, telling Baker that the two of them could speak the next day. "I've called him numerous times, he hasn't called me back," Lawton said. Baker’s aide, well-experienced in taking a teapot off the stove, managed to guide the councillor back to his office at the other end of City Hall. Speaking with reporters later, Baker misleadingly downplayed the incident: “It wasn’t a big confrontation.”

While Baker raged outside, Louijeune kept things moving inside, eventually making changes to her map based on public testimony and comments from her colleagues. When in later meetings Mejia kept asking about why the lines between District 4 and District 5 were seeing changes, Louijeune patiently explained the ripple effect of District 3 needing to see fewer changes, per the judge’s order.

District 2, which under redistricting needed to lose population as District 3 needed to gain it, gave up precincts in the South End, by the Ink Block development, to District 3. Little Saigon (Ward 16-Precinct 1 and Ward 16-Precinct 3) are both united within District 3. Lower Mills stayed split: District 3 kept Ward 17-Precinct 13, while District 4 kept Ward 17-Precinct 14.

To make up for some population loss, District 4 did pick up Ward 15-Precinct 1, where Columbia Road intersects with Quincy Street, from District 3, and Ward 14-Precinct 5, where the P. A. Shaw Elementary School is located, from District 5.

The latest map, similar to the map from last fall that was blocked by the judge, is largely a status quo map. Most residents don't live in new districts. No incumbent councillors will be forced to face off against each other in the same district. Some neighborhoods were united, others were divided.

To hear some councillors tell the story after the 10-2 vote, they had drafted the mapmaking equivalent of "War and Peace." Upon closer inspection, their markings, indicating the shifting of precincts, were more akin to scribbles on Tolstoy's margins. In the end, it all came down to one precinct.