Tuesday, December 10 will see the final election to replace City Councilor Brian Honan, who died after cancer surgery in July. The race pits realtor Jerry McDermott against Mark Ciommo, director of the Veronica B. Smith Senior Center, and it could turn on progressive support.

In the preliminary election, held on November 12, McDermott led Ciommo by roughly 300 votes. Cathleen Campbell, who garnered the bulk of progressive support in the nine-person field, received more than 1100 votes. Even at this late date, nobody knows which way her supporters will sway. McDermott, a cousin of Secretary of State William Galvin, comes out of relatively conservative Ward 22. With that in mind, Ciommo may want to move leftward to pick up some of Campbell’s base. Appearing on WGBH’s Greater Boston with Emily Rooney on November 26, Ciommo seemed to be doing just that on at least one important issue, rent control, saying he would have voted with Menino on a recent vote on the mayor’s proposal favoring the measure. " We have seen a lot of exorbitant rent increases and at the Senior Center, I’ve seen it myself, " said Ciommo. " Is it free-market value or is this rent-gouging? " McDermott, meanwhile, appearing on the same show, said he favored the Community Preservation Act, but opposed returning to rent control.

City-council races, nonetheless, often turn on the arcana of local issues — even vendettas (will Campbell supporters switch their allegiance to Ciommo or stay home?) — and it’s hard to say which candidate such issues help. One thing is certain, however. McDermott probably remembers his 1995 loss to Honan, where he won the preliminary election and lost in the general. He’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen again this time.