Quincy’s City Council Revolt: Referendum on Koch Topples Incumbents

Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch’s 2024 Inauguration. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

On January 5, 2026, seven new faces were sworn into Quincy’s City Council, five of whom unseated incumbent allies of sitting Mayor Thomas Koch in a stunning rebuke of the South Shore city’s governance. Incoming City Council President Anne Mahoney, one of Mayor Koch’s most vocal critics, called the election “the biggest change [she’s] ever seen in Quincy.” 

Koch has served as Mayor of Quincy since 2008. Despite his longevity, he has been mired in a string of controversies. Initially elected as a Democrat, Koch split with the party over his anti-abortion views in 2018, running as an independent for his elections in 2019 and 2023. 

In June 2024, the Koch-aligned City Council approved his request to raise his salary to $285,000, which would make him one of the highest-paid mayors in the United States, surpassing Chicago, Houston, New York, and all other Massachusetts cities. After extreme backlash, Koch announced the raise would be deferred until after the next mayoral election in 2027. In October 2024, the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission raised conflict-of-interest concerns about the proposed 79% raise for Koch and the accompanying 45% raises for City Council members. Critics of the move cite potential violation of Massachusetts law Chapter 268A, Section 19, which bars municipal employees from participating in matters where  they have a direct and immediate financial interest. As of November 2025, no investigation has been opened, nor have any state agencies pursued legal action. Koch’s current salary is $159,141, ranked 205th among Quincy city employees by compensation.

Koch faced further allegations of misappropriating public funds in February 2025, when he set aside $850,000 to commission 10-foot bronze statues of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian at Quincy’s new public safety headquarters. The move garnered an ACLU-backed lawsuit from Quincy residents in May 2025. In a formal statement, Heather L. Weaver, Senior Counsel for the ACLU, said that despite the facility’s critical city services, “Quincy residents who do not share the City’s favored religious beliefs will get the message that they are not welcome.” In October 2025, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge issued an injunction prohibiting the city from installing the statues until the lawsuit is resolved. As of November 2025, the lawsuit is ongoing. Koch defended his decision, claiming that the statues represent the “victory of truth, justice, and good over evil.” He also defended the price tag, as Quincy’s public safety building will cost over $170 million, and an additional $850,000 is “not a large sum in and of itself.”

More recently, Mayor Koch has faced backlash for his comments regarding clergy sexual abuse. In a September interview with local radio host Dan Rea to discuss his legal woes regarding the proposed Catholic saint statues, the conversation veered into the topic of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal. Koch asserted that the widespread scandal was largely due to “homosexual issues, not pedophilia," and that "the teachers and coaches… are higher than it was percentage-wise than in the church." These statements drew intense criticism from abuse survivors, members of Quincy’s gay community, and the Quincy School Committee. Koch has since apologized publicly to the gay community and the school community for his statements.

These controversies come at an inconvenient time for Koch, as Quincy finds itself in a precarious financial situation. In 2024, the mayor drew $4.2 million from the city’s pension reserve to combat rising resident tax bills. In 2025, he withdrew $5.2 million from the same fund for the same purpose. These reserve drawdowns reduced Quincy’s budget flexibility and liquidity, two things the city desperately needs to pay down its $1.6 billion in outstanding debt. 

Elevated debt burden and diminished budget flexibility led Standard and Poors Global (S&P), a reputable market intelligence and ratings agency, to downgrade the city’s economic outlook from stable to negative in April 2025. The agency ultimately downgraded the city’s credit rating from “AA” to “AA-” in June 2025. A lower credit rating from an agency like S&P raises the price of borrowing money by signaling risk to investors, who will subsequently demand a higher return. This means municipal projects financed through debt obligations would be more costly, thereby straining Quincy’s budget, and likely forcing the city to raise taxes to cover financial shortfalls. Municipal Finance Director Eric Mason blamed the uncertainty of federal aid for the updated outlook, saying “virtually every municipality across the United States…is having its outlook changed to negative.” However, the only other city in Massachusetts to receive an outlook downgrade from stable to negative was Greenfield. The only other city in Massachusetts to receive a credit rating downgrade was Danvers (AAA to AA+), which maintained its stable outlook. While a municipal balance sheet may present a cloudy image of a city’s economic viability to the average voter, the message of S&P’s actions is crystal clear: Quincy is in financial decline.

Koch’s recent controversies and economic shortfalls created the perfect storm for Anne Mahoney and her fellow Koch critics to cause one of the largest city council upheavals in recent memory. Mahoney is no stranger to a rivalry with Koch. In 2023, she gave up her at-large city council seat to unsuccessfully oppose Koch’s re-election bid. She also mounted a losing campaign against Koch in 2011. However, her status as the top vote-getter in a non-mayoral municipal election that brought out 23% of Quincy's registered voters (compared to 16.7% of voters in 2021) demonstrates a clear desire for change in Quincy.

Mahoney is joined by fellow reform candidates Ziqiang Yuan (at-large), David Jacobs (Ward 1), Ginny Ryan (Ward 4), Maggie McKee (Ward 5), and Debbie Riley (Ward 6). Walter Hubley was elected as Ward 3 Councilor, but did not run against an incumbent as Ward 3’s seat was previously vacant. The new crop of councilors constitutes the first majority-female city council in Quincy’s history, with 5 of its 9 members identifying as women.

All eyes are now on the 2027 mayoral election and whether a more contentious city hall will advance or hinder progress. Mayor Koch is arguably at the weakest point of his 17-year tenure, and moving past his recent controversies, while working with Mahoney and other critics in City Hall to address Quincy’s financial crisis, will be essential to repairing his legacy and securing an eighth term.