LYNN — Ward 3 City Councilor Darren Cyr bested his primary opponent by 140 votes earlier this month.
But the City Council president, who beat George Meimeteas by a 61 percent to 39 percent margin, said he is not taking anything for granted.
“The 100-plus votes he got may not seem like a lot, but it was more than 20 percent of the vote,” he said. “It means that I have to work even harder. I’m out campaigning, knocking on doors, talking to voters, and putting up signs.”
Cyr has been on the council for a dozen years. In 2013, he beat challenger Ronald Mendes by a margin of 59 to 41 percent.
“Every candidate who pulls papers is serious and I take them seriously,” he said. “But I am doing a good job as a councilor and if I didn’t feel that way, I wouldn’t run.”
Calvin Anderson, a member of the Lynn Historical Commission, had pulled papers to run for the seat. But at the last minute he endorsed Cyr’s re-election bid.
But Meimeteas, a real estate agent at Boston Signature Homes in Swampscott, said he is confident of a win.
“The turnout was very low and getting 40 percent against an incumbent is super,” he said. “He’s been there a long time and it just shows I was right there on his heels. I’m very happy about where we are.”
In 2009, Meimeteas received 5,335 votes in a race he lost for councilor-at-large.
“I almost made the council by a few hundred votes,” he said. “We know how to get the vote out. A lot of people I talk to were surprised to know there is an election. We are very confident.”
The biggest complaint he hears from voters, he said, is Cyr does not return calls. Taxes are high, and when your ward councilor fails to return a call, that’s a concern, he said.
Cyr disagrees.
“My campaigns are based on my accomplishments as a ward councilor.”
On Thursday, Cyr said he received a call from a constituent on Herschel Street where a tree had fallen.
“I went down there with a city crew,” he said. “In the past, I used to go down with my chainsaw until the city workers told me I was taking work away from them. In the winter, if I get a call about an unplowed street, I plow it myself. I am a hands-on councilor. I don’t like bragging about myself, but I just get the job done.”
