Michelle Wu’s Strong Bid for Boston Mayor

Michelle Wu’s Strong Bid for Boston Mayor

 

By Jennie L. Ilustre

 

Councilor Michelle Wu took a huge step in becoming the next mayor of Boston, Massachusetts with a strong showing in the recent primary.

Wu was the top vote-getter in the Boston mayoral primary, winning 33%  of the vote. She beat four other candidates for the top spot. Annissa Essaibi George, an at-large member of the Boston City Council, got the second highest vote with 22%. The two will face off in the general election on November 2.

“This is about a choice for our future,” Councilor Wu, who has two young boys, remarked, according to an NBC Boston report. “This is a choice about whether City Hall tackles our biggest challenges with bold solutions or we nibble around the edges of the status quo.”

Wu made history as  the first Asian American woman council member when she was elected in 2013 at age 28. Three years later, her colleagues elected her President of the Boston City Council in a unanimous vote. She was the first woman of color to serve as Council President.

Councilor Wu exuded confidence that her campaign would prevail in November. She added she would work harder for Boston, and asked for sustained support towards that goal.

 

Wu’s Chances of Winning

Paul W. Lee, former National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) president and former Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) board chair, currently lives in the Boston area.

He said in an email interview: “Michelle is leading in the early polls, but her supporters know that they will need to continue to work hard and raise funds to ensure her victory in November.”

“Some commentators have characterized the upcoming election as a choice between her vision for  a New Boston with bold and visionary solutions versus the Old Boston status quo approach of her opponent,” he stressed. “That said, there appears to be strong  opposition coming from Trump-associated big money donors.”

2. B. Woo is President and “a volunteer for the past 22 years” of 80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc, a 501 C-3 organization. He thinks Wu will win in the general election in November: ”Her campaign seems exceptionally strong. My conjecture is that she’ll win at least 55% of the vote on November 2.”

But he also noted in a recent newsletter: “A billionaire supported Annissa Essaibi with a SuperPAC and ran $5 million worth of TV ads for her during the primary…During the General Election, much more money could be poured in, and the TV ads will most likely be negative ads attacking Michelle Wu.”

Woo, Delaware Lieutenant Governor in 1985-89, urged Asian Americans to “help Michelle by donating generously” to 80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc.

 

Historic Election

Remarked Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke, President & CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) in an email: “This year’s Boston mayoral election is historic on several fronts, with two women of color as the top candidates vying for the seat. This would be the first time in 200 years that a woman of color would be elected as mayor of Boston.”

According to the NBC-TV news report, Wu’s parents came to the U.S. from Taiwan in the early 80s, before she was born. Wu is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish. George’s father immigrated to the U.S. from Tunisia in 1972, and her mother was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany after World War II.

The election to elect Boston’s next mayor will take place on November 2 this year. The winner will succeed Marty Walsh. Walsh resigned as mayor on March 22, 2021, Wiki noted, when he was confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Labor in the Biden administration.

Due to the vacancy in office, it added, the winner will be sworn in as soon as possible once the results of the general election are certified.

 

Broad Coalition

Former NAPABA president and AAJC board chair Lee praised Councilor Wu’s strong showing in the September 14 primary as well-deserved.

He noted: “Michelle won a major victory in the preliminary election with over 33% of the vote in a five-person race, a margin of more than 10% over her nearest opponent. She won or tied in 124 of the 255 precincts and came in second in another 72 precincts.”

He added: “This reflects the broad grassroots coalition she has built across Boston with her bold and visionary work in many critical areas such as affordable housing, anti-displacement, economic development, and fair city contracting for minority-owned businesses.”

“Michelle has strong name recognition based on her eight years on the City Council, where she sponsored or co-sponsored a majority of the legislation during her tenure,” Lee said.

“Those who have worked with her know that she is an extremely smart, talented and charismatic leader who is able to mobilize broad coalitions,” he added. “She has been endorsed by a number of Black and Latinx leaders–she speaks Spanish fluently–as well as various labor unions and progressive organizations.”

 

APAICS Award

APAICS President & CEO Mielke said, “The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies recently awarded Michelle the 2021 Women’s Collective Spotlight Award in recognition for her work as President of Boston City Council. We extend our congratulations to Councilwoman Wu for emerging as the top vote-getter in the Boston mayoral primary.”

Former NAPABA president and AAJC board chair Lee said Councilor Wu “has delivered results, such as her advocacy of free fares on bus routes through the city’s poorest neighborhoods, a program which has been replicated in other cities in the state.”

“As a mother of two young boys, ages 3 and 6, her lived experience has informed her work for young families in childcare and early education, mental health and education,” he pointed out. “Michelle was the first woman of color to be elected Boston City Council President, and she worked to ensure that she was succeeded in that role by two women of color.”

 

Inspiring Story

Councilwoman Wu is a candidate with an inspiring story as someone who has succeeded against all odds. In her website, she speaks about her life’s challenges, her work, and her vision of helping others.

“Growing up, I never thought I would run for office one day. As the daughter of immigrants, I understood from my youngest days how my family and so many others feel unseen and unheard in our society. When my mom began struggling with mental illness as I was finishing college, I became her caregiver and raised my sisters. In those days as we were trying to figure out how to go on in the depths of family crisis, it felt like we were alone, invisible, and powerless.

“Through my family’s struggles, I’ve seen just how much government matters, and how big of a disconnect there often is when you most need help. Whether it was fighting to get my sisters what they needed in schools, fighting to open a neighborhood small business, or navigating BPS with my own children, we met barriers from city agencies that were supposed to provide support. And when I met others in the same situation –

caring for a family member, raising kids, trying to open a business I heard the same frustrations of fighting a system that wasn’t designed to work for everyone.

“I went to law school to learn how to navigate and change these systems so other families wouldn’t face the same challenges. And from working in City Hall for Mayor Tom Menino, and on my former law professor Senator Elizabeth Warren’s first campaign, I saw how government and politics can help solve problems, remove barriers, and empower people. That’s why I ran for City Council in 2013, and why I work every day to build community and push for the future that our kids deserve.

“On the City Council, I’ve worked in coalition to deliver results to transform what’s possible when we think big. I’ve worked to expand the ranks of women, people of color, and young people in positions of leadership. I’ve stood alongside activists, advocates, and community members to lead the nation in providing paid parental leave, fighting the climate crisis, changing the conversation on transportation, standing up against corporate interests like Airbnb, and rooting out corruption in our bureaucracies. I know Boston can be a welcoming city where we can all thrive – and there’s so much more we need to do together.

“This work is deeply personal for me. As a mom to Blaise and Cass, every day I feel the urgency of families fighting the system to hear us, and to build communities that are healthy, safe, and resilient. Now’s the time for us to lead.”

 

Public Servant

Following is Councilor Wu’s official profile from the Boston Council website

Michelle Wu has been a voice for accessibility, transparency, and community engagement in city leadership. First elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at the age of 28, Wu is the first Asian American woman to serve on the Council.

Councilor Wu was the lead sponsor of Boston’s Paid Parental Leave ordinance and Healthcare Equity ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity – both of which passed unanimously through the Council and were signed into law by former Mayor Martin J. Walsh. She also authored Boston’s Communications Access ordinance, which guarantees translation, interpretation and assistive technology for access to city services regardless of English language proficiency or communications disability.

Wu got her start in City Hall working for Mayor Thomas M. Menino as a Rappaport Fellow in Law and Public Policy, where she created the city’s first guide to the restaurant permitting process from start to finish, and was also a driving force to launch Boston’s food truck program. She later served as statewide Constituency Director in the U.S. Senate campaign of her former law professor, Elizabeth Warren.

As a former restaurant owner, legal services attorney, and legal guardian of her younger sister, Wu understands firsthand the barriers that families and communities face. She has a background in community advocacy, having worked at the WilmerHale Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain, providing legal advice to low-income small business owners, as well as at the Medical-Legal Partnership at Boston Medical Center on immigration law cases for survivors of domestic violence.

In 2016, Councilor Wu was honored as one of Ten Outstanding Young Leaders by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and as part of Marie Claire magazine’s New Guard: The 50 Most Influential Women in America.

Michelle Wu graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, and lives in Roslindale with her husband Conor and her sons Blaise and Cass.