Former at-large City Council candidate Said Abdikarim says that after staying on the sidelines in 2023 he will be running for the District 7 Council seat in 2025, piggybacking on what he called “the connections” he built in his citywide run in 2021.

District 7 encompasses Roxbury and parts of the South End and Dorchester.

“I plan to file very soon to hit the ground running to fundraise,” he told The Reporter, after earlier confirming that rumors of his run were correct.
The District 7 seat is now held by Councillor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who has served two terms and had nothing but good things to say about Abdikarim.

“We are fully focused on continuing to serve the residents of District 7,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Reporter. “Regarding Mr. Abdikarim’s potential candidacy, I believe it’s always valuable for the democratic process when residents feel inspired to serve and take part in leadership. He’s a good man. And this is democracy.”

Abdikarim said he has been involved in several campaigns in the past but ventured out in his first run for office in 2021, finishing 12th in the at-Large Preliminary Election in September 2021.

Abdikarim settled in Roxbury when he was nine years old and a refugee from Somalia after spending four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. He graduated from Charlestown High School. He noted that he volunteered on former District 7 Councillor Tito Jackson’s campaigns, Mayor Wu’s campaigns when she was on the Council, late Mayor Tom Menino's campaigns, and the campaigns of current Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.

He has been working at the Roxbury-based non-profit African Community Economic Development of New England (ACEDONE) as the director of community engagement and policy, helping others register to vote and become civically involved. Recently, he took on a role as community engagement manager for District 7’s Islamic Society of Boston.