This year he came in fifth with 1,506 first place votes, while Pitkin, running again as a challenger, came in 12th.

According to Robert Winters, local political pundit and editor of the Cambridge Civic Journal, Reeves put more effort into the campaign this year and was a more “highly visible” member of the council who, for example, stepped up his support for Riverside during negotiations with the University.

Winters also said that the perception that Reeves was vulnerable may have influenced some of his supporters to rank him higher on their ballots.

Reeves’ campaign manager Gabriel Mondon said the campaign had feared that many of Reeves’ voters had left the city, so they focused on registering new voters and increasing publicity to win back some of their former constituents.

“We’re glad to be where we are,” Mondon said last night.

Reeves said his standing in recent elections has ranged from first to last, and his only focus is on winning a spot, no matter where in the ranking it falls.

—Staff writer Jessica R. Rubin-Wills can be reached at rubinwil@fas.harvard.edu.