Ray Flynn is elected mayor of Boston.

Flynn (D), with 128,578 (65.1%), defeats Mel King (D), the first African-American to qualify for a general election in Boston history, with 69,015 (34.9%). Voter turnout is 201,118 [197,530-BGL] or 69.6%, the highest in a Boston mayoral election since 74.3% in 1949. The first mayor elected from South Boston, Flynn, lives at 1 Flint Place. He credited with improving race relations in the city and for shifting attention from the city’s downtown to its neighborhoods. Flynn is reelected in 1987* and 1991* and resigns from the office to become U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican in 1993.*