Michelle Wu cruised to an easy victory on Tuesday night and became the first elected woman and person of color to be the Mayor of Boston in the position’s 200-year history.
Photo Courtesy: Associated Press
Wu, 36, took 63.4% of the vote and defeated her fellow city councilor Annissa Essaibi George in what many anticipated to be a blowout race.
The progressive mayor-elect is now prepared to put her ambitious campaign platform through the nitty gritty gears of City Hall’s public policy process.
“We’re ready to be a Boston that doesn’t push people out, that welcomes all who call our city home. We’re ready to be a Boston where all can afford to stay and to thrive. And yes, Boston is ready to become a Green New Deal city,” Wu said at her victory speech on Tuesday night.
Essaibi George, 47, conceded the race in a speech to her supporters at an election night party at the Fairmont Copley Plaza late Tuesday. She congratulated her colleague and said she hopes Wu will “show the city how mothers get it done.” The two attended a forum at the Howard Thurman Center on Boston University campus hosted by BU Student Government and Boston Intercollegiate Government just days before the election.
Michelle Wu has served as a city councilor at-large since 2013, winning election at the age of 28. The Harvard graduate was elected as City Council President in 2016, becoming the first woman of color to do so. She made paid leave and healthcare equity a key focus of her tenure, overseeing the unanimous passage of significant legislation signed by former Mayor Marty Walsh.
It is worth noting that Acting Mayor Kim Janey still was the first woman and person of color to hold the position without election after she took over for Mayor Walsh, now serving as President Biden’s secretary of labor. Janey stewarded Boston through the economic difficulties presented by the pandemic and a strong vaccine rollout. On November 16, Janey will pass the reins to Wu at a period many believe is ripe for transformative changes to the city.
Wu’s election marks what could be one of the largest changes of the guard that Boston has witnessed since the birth of the Irish-Catholic political machine in the early twentieth century. With generational problems to confront, Wu will soon begin to shape her idea of a city upon a hill and mold Boston into a bastion of sustainability and inclusivity.
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