Persistent candidate may join City Council

Boston City Councillor Ayanna Pressley's win over Representative Michael Capuano may have given Althea Garrison another shot at elected office.

Pressley will likely leave her position on the City Council. Garrison took fifth place last year in the at-large race, not making the cut.

But Boston's election rules mean that Garrison would be next in line for the empty council seat.

Garrison is the first transgender person elected to a state legislature in the United States-she served one term as a Massachusetts state representative in 1992.

She has run unsuccessfully for office at least 16 times, most recently as an independent in the special election last May to replace state Senator Linda Dorcena Forry.