BOSTON — A two-day recount found state Sen. William Brownsberger defeated Daniel Lander, a former senior aide to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, by 35 votes, and fended off Wu’s bid to oust him from the Senate for killing her tax bill.

Brownsberger, the President pro tempore of the state Senate and a Belmont Democrat who represents parts of Boston, defeated Lander, a first-time candidate backed by Wu, by a 12,293 to 12,258 margin in the Suffolk and Middlesex District.

The recount was completed by Boston on Wednesday, and three other municipalities comprising Brownsberger’s Senate district, Belmont, Cambridge and Watertown, completed their counts and certified results by Thursday evening.

“I’m looking forward to continued service to all the people of my district and I am eager to get back to work,” Brownsberger said in a statement to the Herald after the recount affirmed he locked down the tight race more than a week after the primary.

As there are no Republicans running, Brownsberger is the presumptive winner of the race. He had faced his first challenge since winning his Senate seat in a 2011 special election.

Lander issued a statement congratulating Brownsberger, while also urging the Senate to take notice of how close he came to knocking off a member of its leadership team.

“I want to thank every voter who cast a ballot — no matter who you cast it for,” Lander said. “I’d also like to congratulate Senator Brownsberger on victory. I sincerely wish him the best because the people of our district are counting on him to fight for them.

“While this race did not end as we’d hoped, I am so deeply proud of the campaign we built,” Lander added. “I know we have woken up the state Senate and sent a message loud and clear that the days of delay and inaction must end now.”

Lander touted his narrow margin of defeat as a victory. When he launched his campaign, he said, “No one in the political establishment thought I could win.”

“This race has already shaken up the broken status quo,” Lander said. “From Beacon Hill and beyond we have put our state Senate on notice. Residents are tired of excuses and ready for real action.”

Lander was backed by a powerful ally in Boston’s popular mayor in a race that became a proxy battle between Wu and the state Senate.

Senate President Karen Spilka issued a statement soon after the recount that emphasized her confidence in Brownsberger and state Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston, the two senators Wu sought to oust from the Senate for killing her tax bill this election cycle by backing and aggressively campaigning for their opponents.

“I want to congratulate all of the candidates who prevailed in last week’s primaries and thank everyone who put their name on the ballot and made their case to voters about the future of our Commonwealth,” Spilka said. I want to particularly congratulate Senators Will Brownsberger and Nick Collins on their victories.

“Will and Nick are deeply respected members of the Senate who have earned the trust of their colleagues through years of hard work, principled leadership and a commitment to the people they represent,” Spilka added. “I’m proud to call them colleagues and friends, and I’m grateful that they will continue bringing their experience, independence and leadership to the Senate.”

Spilka, whose relationship with Wu has been frosty over the Senate’s repeated actions to kill her tax bill, beginning in late 2024, said, “There was a great deal of time, money and political energy spent this year trying to remake the Senate.

“Voters had their say. I’m proud of the members of this Senate, and I think the results speak for themselves. Now it’s time to put the primary campaign politics behind us,” Spilka added.

A day earlier, Wu had stood by her decision to get involved in the Senate races, particularly by backing two political newcomers, Lander and Latoya Gayle, who took on her respective political rivals, Brownsberger and Collins — despite losing all three races she endorsed in this election cycle.

One of her Senate allies, Michael Rush, who unsuccessfully tried to shepherd a version of Wu’s tax bill through the Senate earlier this year, lost his primary race to Persis Yu.

“I think across the board, we saw a big message that voters in general are tired of the status quo and want to see more urgency to actually fix things and do things,” Wu said Wednesday on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “Does this lead to more entrenchment or does this lead to more open discussion?

“I think the ball is in the court of the state Senate at this point,” the mayor added.

Boosted by Wu, Lander saw his strongest results in Boston, where he defeated Brownsberger by a 1,762-vote margin.

Brownsberger won his hometown of Belmont by 2,220 votes. Lander took Cambridge and Watertown as well, though by much smaller margins of 248 and 155, respectively.

Shifting vote totals throughout last week led both Brownsberger and Lander to file for districtwide recounts.

The two candidates traded leads for days after the Sept. 1 primary, with Brownsberger up by 61 last Wednesday morning, Lander jumping ahead by that afternoon and leading by four four votes through early Friday, and Brownsberger overtaking him by Friday evening. The recount affirmed the Senate leader’s victory.

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