Brian Arrigo, a two-term councillor-at-large, was elected mayor of Revere Tuesday, besting incumbent Dan Rizzo by 117 votes in the hotly contested race that saw more than 10,000 voters go to the polls.
In the unofficial final tally, Arrigo received 5,208 votes while Rizzo received 5,091 votes.
The race was close throughout the night with each candidate finishing first in precincts throughout the city.
Arrigo was joined at City Hall by his wife, Daveen, and their baby, Joseph John, who was born Oct. 27.
The 35-year-old resident and son of former City Councillor John Arrigo was elated by his victory.
“It’s incredible,†said Arrigo. “Having the birth of my first child, I know nothing is going to match that feeling but right now it’s a little surreal and it hasn’t fully sunk in. But I look forward to starting to get to work and making sure that some of the things we talked about during the campaign actually get done.â€
Arrigo attributed his victory to a lot o
f hard work and key endorsements.
“We knocked on a lot of doors and had a great group of people helping us out,†said Arrigo. “To have folks like Councillor [Jessica] Giannino, former Mayor [Robert] Haas, and Councillor [John] Powers step up and endorse me and my candidacy, I don’t think that’s ever been done in a mayor’s race against an incumbent mayor. I think that was a big turning point.