Candidates eliminated in preliminary election On March 20, incumbent mayor Kevin White told WCVB-TV's Frank Avruch that he planned on running for an unprecedented fifth term.

[3] White did not officially confirm that he would not seek a fifth term until May 26, 1983, by which point several candidates had already announced their candidacies for mayor.

[7] On March 15, former Deputy Mayor and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority general manager Bob Kiley became the second candidate to enter the race.

As part of his announcement he released "The Flynn Program for Boston", a 30-page booklet outlining his proposals for jobs, housing, crime, services, and other issues.

A major item of debate was linkage, a fee that would be placed on downtown developers to raise funds for affordable housing.

Coinciding with the primary, voters also strongly approved non-binding referendums in favor of a linkage policy and the creation of neighborhood councils.

[12] Two weeks before the preliminary election, a poll by The Boston Globe showed that King was in a dead heat with Finnegan and Flynn.

[6] The Washington Post wrote that the campaign had, in the final month before the primary, become a three-person contest between Flynn, King, and David Finnegan.

The Washington Post described the campaign as having remained "cordial and issue-oriented," with each of the three leading candidates, "Appealing to different constituencies in the variegated Boston political mix and articulat[ing] different visions of the city.

"[6] Former School Board president and popular radio talk show host[6][14] David Finnegan announced his candidacy on April 21 at the Strand Theatre in Uphams Corner.

Finnegan chose to make his announcement in Uphams Corner because White had not fulfilled his promise to rebuild the neighborhood and the man he appointed to run the project was jailed.

Launching his campaign prior to White's announcement that he was not seeking reelection, DiCara initially hoped to strike a contrast to the downtown-focused mayor by being a candidate focused on all of the city's neighborhoods.

[5] DiCara would later write in his book Turmoil and Transition in Boston that his campaign message had been out-of-step with the sentiments of Boston voters: My slogan of wanting to be "everybody's mayor" was not in sync with those residents who wanted their own personal mayor who reflected their views...and my relentless efforts to show voters I was the most qualified were not responsive to their personal concerns.

[18] On April 26, DiCara, Finnegan, Flynn, Kearney, Kiley, King, Langone and Linger participated in the first mayoral debate.

The tone of the election was seen as dampening the racial tensions that had been heightened over the decade prior during the Boston desegregation busing crisis.

[6] Flynn's campaign received no real financial support from major sectors of the city's business community.