Politics

Despite AP call, Ricardo Arroyo vows to wait until more ballots are counted

"I didn't write a speech for 'I'm still waiting for results.'"

Ricardo Arroyo's campaign against Kevin Hayden for Suffolk County District Attorney was marked by controversy. David L Ryan/Boston Globe

By Ross Cristantiello

September 7, 2022

Ricardo Arroyo said late Tuesday night that he was not conceding the race for the Suffolk District Attorney’s office just yet, despite the Associated Press calling the race for Kevin Hayden earlier in the evening with 75 percent of precincts reporting.

“I didn’t write a speech for ‘I’m still waiting for results,'” he told supporters. “I wrote one for losing and I wrote one for winning, but I didn’t write one for ‘we’re still counting.'”

The 34-year-old former public defender continued, saying that his campaign would wait until more votes were tallied later into the night to potentially concede. The remarks were made just before midnight, and Arroyo guessed that final numbers wouldn’t be in until the “wee hours of the morning,” the Boston Herald reported.

Regardless of results, Arroyo added, Hayden should be investigated for abusing his powers while in office.

The race was marked by controversy. Sexual assault allegations made against Arroyo in 2005 and 2007 as a high school student surfaced last month. Although one of the accusers said that Arroyo did not, in fact, assault her, the other accuser told the Boston Globe that the allegations were true. In the wake of this news, Arroyo lost multiple high-profile endorsements, such as that of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Hayden, who was appointed DA after Rachael Rollins vacated the position, came under scrutiny for how his office handled an investigation into an alleged coverup made by Transit Police.