For 200 years, Boston has been led by white men. On Tuesday, November 2, 2021, that changed.
The voters of the city elected 36 year old Michelle Wu as their next mayor after a closely watched race against fellow City Council member Annissa Essaibi George.
The race was called early on election evening as the numbers moved toward landslide territory. Speaking to her supporters an hour before midnight Wu said, one of her sons asked her if "boys can be mayor of Boston?" She answered, "They have been, they will be again, but not tonight."
"Boston has always been that city that punches above our weight...and today, together, we are marching into Boston's promise," Wu said as she promised to lead a "Boston for everyone."
When Wu and Essaibi George won a multiple candidate primary election back in September, history was guaranteed.
Both are considered "women of color" and they were campaigning to lead a city with a history of ethnic and racial tensions. One or the other would be replacing Mayor Kim Janey, who became Boston's first Black woman to serve as mayor, when she replaced Marty Walsh, after his appointment as President Biden's labor secretary.
Essaibi George grew up in Boston. Wu moved to the city for college. Essaibi George has a notable Boston accent. Wu does not.
Both Democrats, their campaign split the loyalties of some traditional party allies.
When a poll came out in mid-October showing Wu leading by 30 points, it seemed apparent she was on her way to becoming the city's first Asian-American mayor.
But true to the fighting spirit of Boston, Essaibi George did not relent. She dismissed the polls and clearly put forward a campaign meant to highlight her city roots and her long-time commitment to working class issues. It was risky to attempt to paint Wu as an outsider given the context.
On one weekend in mid-October, while Wu campaigned with U.S. Senator Ed Markey for a "green new deal" - a policy Wu said is both an environmental imperative and job creator - Essaibi George held a news conference near a stretch of the city known as the Methadone Mile, or Mass/Cass.
It is a section of the city at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard that is over-flowing with the tents of homeless people, many of whom are hooked on drugs and at high risk of Covid-19, as they live in squalid conditions.
Essaibi George outlined a plan to address the public health emergency on "day one" and argued that her opponent Wu, had failed to do so as a member of the city council. Wu strongly disagreed, of course, and promised that her approach would build consensus toward a solution to the complicated problem.
Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once counseled a young John Kennedy to be "a little more Boston and a little less Harvard" on the campaign trail. He also is credited with the observation that "all politics is local."
In the current era some have observed that all politics is national. Voters have moved solidly into Democratic and Republican camps and nothing can move them, including local issues. That does not seem to be the case in Boston. This was a local election decided on local issues and run between two local political personalities.
Massachusetts and Boston have always been considered solidly Democratic. The occasional Republican office-holder is seen as a function of the personal qualities of unique candidates. Exceptions that prove the rule. It's not surprising, therefore, that a Democrat is the next mayor of Boston.
But Wu's election marks a significant shift in demographics, the racial history of Boston, and the political direction of - the city where the country began - at a time when the country's own destiny seems in doubt.
A positive sign came on election night when Essaibi George conceded defeat, congratulated Wu, and told her supporters that she will do what she can to help Wu succeed as the next mayor, because "Boston deserves nothing less."
Mayor-elect Wu will be sworn in on November 16.
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© Dean Pagani 2021
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© Dean Pagani 2021