Mayor Koch will face off against political newcomer

Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch will face political neophyte Brenda Ryan in the Nov. 5 election, after winning 65 percent of the vote in the Sept. 10 preliminary election that eliminated third candidate Tracey Lea Dorgan.

Koch, who is running for his sixth term, received 3,696 votes, according to unofficial results from the city election office.

Ryan, who said her opposition to the large development proposed for her Hospital Hill neighborhood inspired her candidacy, received 1,104 votes, or 19 percent of the total ballots cast.

Dorgan, who like Ryan made overdevelopment in Quincy a theme of her candidacy, received 805 votes, or 14 percent of the total.

Turnout in the preliminary election was a low 9.9 percent, election officials said.

The turnout for narrowing the three-way race for Ward 1 councilor to two candidates in the November election was higher, at 16 percent.

Incumbent David McCarthy, who received 992 votes, will face Joseph Murphy, who had 343. Danielle Kempe failed to make the cut, with 277 votes.