Eight hopefuls sprint to the finish

Voters on Tuesday will elect four at-large councilors, at least two of whom will be newcomers, replacing Michael F. Flaherty Jr. and Sam Yoon, who gave up their seats to run for mayor.

Seven of the candidates are under age 40, five have never before held elected office, and four are members of minority groups. The winners will have the opportunity to reshape a council that is often regarded as having little power, but has served as a launch pad for mayoral candidates.

“The product of this council campaign will be a council that can’t be ignored,’’ said John A. Nucci, a former at-large councilor and School Committee member who now serves as vice president for external affairs at Suffolk University. “It will most likely represent a wider spectrum of the city than other councils have.’’

The candidates, the survivors of a field of 15 who competed in the Sept. 22 preliminary election, are scrambling about the city, knocking on doors, hitting coffee shops and house parties, sending mailers, making phone calls, rallying union members, working online networks - anything to stand out from one another and get attention alongside the higher profile, better funded mayor’s race and a special election for US Senate.

One candidate said he had been to two dozen multicandidate forums and debates. Another counted three dozen. Underscoring the frenzied pace and crowded calendar, on Monday night the National Black College Alliance and Greatest MINDS, a networking organization for professionals of color, held a “Speed Candidating’’ session in Roxbury, at which six candidates cycled through a series of cafeteria tables, parrying with a dozen voters at each. That same evening four candidates attended a Boston University debate for students. Each day this week has been similar.

“It’s a mad dash to the finish,’’ said Tito Jackson, one of the eight.

“We’re existing on adrenaline and fumes at this point,’’ said another, Ayanna S. Pressley. “This is not for the faint of heart.’’

Pressley finished fourth in the Sept. 22 preliminary. Jackson was sixth. Incumbents John R. Connolly and Stephen J. Murphy carried the day, followed by Felix G. Arroyo (third), Andrew P. Kenneally (fifth), Doug Bennett (seventh), and Tomás Gonzalez (eighth). No one has eased up, because in the past the candidates who did best in preliminary elections have not always been elected in the final election.

The candidates express similar visions of Boston, promoting a robust economic base, improved schools, and healthier neighborhoods, along with a City Council more responsive to residents and better able to influence a City Hall dominated by Mayor Thomas M. Menino. In the final sprint, they have been emphasizing matters of biography and expertise, trying to stand out enough to finish in the top four.

Arroyo, who benefits from high name recognition as the son of former councilor at large Felix D. Arroyo, often mentions that his wife, mother, and sister are all Boston public school teachers. A labor and political organizer, he has worked to help thousands of janitors band together to win health insurance and boost their pay, experience he says will translate to work on the council.

“My focus will be on making sure that the community’s voice is heard and that they are part of the process, as well as really making sure that we’re looking out for the youth in Boston,’’ he said.

Bennett, a former Nantucket selectman, is the newest arrival to Boston in the race and has raised the least campaign funds - less than $20,000 in a field in which half have exceeded $100,000 - but has tried to make up for it as a peripatetic figure on Boston’s streets and sidewalks, knocking on more than 100,000 doors by his count. A self-described outsider and fiscal conservative, Bennett is a former carpenter, Army reservist, and one-time Republican state Senate candidate running as a man of the people.

“I’m the candidate that’s not tied to any other politicians,’’ Bennett said. “There’s no nepotism with me, and what you see is what you get. I like to lay down the straight talk.’’

Connolly, a former teacher and lawyer who garnered the most votes in the preliminary election, says he is committed to building what he describes as “One Boston,’’ a city of consensus and opportunity for all. He wants to continue the work of his first term, in which he has chaired the committees on education and the environment. He also has proposed creating an environmental science high school.

“I love doing this job and working for ‘One Boston,’ ’’ said Connolly, a Harvard graduate.

Gonzalez, raised in Egleston Square, told the “Speed Candidating’’ attendees that he is “the biggest character in the race,’’ and that he tries to “keep it as real as possible.’’ Laid off from a modestly paying food service job at 21, he decided to take classes at Roxbury Community College, becoming the first Latino student body president and earning a scholarship to Boston College.

He then worked as a community organizer, caught Menino’s attention, and became City Hall’s Latino liaison. He was later appointed chief of staff for the Elderly Commission.

“Other candidates, they’ve worked in city government as elected officials, but no one has actually been in the administrative side, running departments, creating budgets,’’ Gonzalez said.

Jackson, a self-described bridge-builder, is a lifelong Grove Hall resident who was elected student body president at the University of New Hampshire, where he was one of 73 African-American students in an undergraduate population of 10,000.

An economic development aide in Governor Deval Patrick’s administration, he says he helped create or lure 2,000 jobs to the state. His first goal is more accessible, efficient, transparent government. “We have Whole Foods ingredients, but we [only] have pretty good cake,’’ he said.

Kenneally is a West Roxbury native who now lives in East Boston. After working in Washington, he earned a master’s degree in ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland and another in urban affairs at Boston University. Two of his brothers serve as Boston police officers, and his mother is a school nurse. At City Hall, Kenneally has been an aide to former councilor at large Maura Hennigan and to Flaherty.

“I’ve done all the grunt work; I’ve worked in every neighborhood,’’ Kenneally said, likening the election to a job interview. “Everyone looks nice, but don’t you want the person who’s most qualified, the person who has the education and experience and can really hit the ground running?’’

Murphy, who is likely to benefit from the fact that, by luck of the draw, his name will be listed first on Tuesday’s ballot, is the most experienced candidate in the race. He was first appointed to his seat in early 1997 and was elected later that year. He serves as the council’s vice chairman and is particularly interested in municipal finance and budgets, casting himself as a steady hand in uncertain times.

Among other bills, Murphy has written a financial accountability ordinance requiring city councilors to report income and assets; an ordinance aimed at ending a loophole that enabled injury-leave abuse of the pension system; and an ordinance to require regular cleaning of grease ducts in restaurants, after a fire that killed two firefighters.

Pressley, until recently political director for US Senator John F. Kerry, said she has forged relationships with officeholders and activists at the neighborhood, municipal, state, and federal level. She has been involved in politics since age 10, when she campaigned for Harold Washington, the first African-American mayor of Chicago, where Pressley was raised by her mother. Her father struggled with addiction and was in and out of prison, she said.

Pressley attended Boston University but left school early to support her family, landing a job in constituent service for Joseph P. Kennedy II, then a US representative. She has been in government since, while also serving as a mentor to young women and working with several nonprofits.

“I’ve worked behind the scenes for 16 years as a silent partner,’’ she said. “I’m running for this position now to be a public partner, and I want to work with [people] to ensure that there is equity in city services, in education, in housing, and in opportunity in life.’’