Boston mayor election results: Michelle Wu will make history after Annissa Essaibi George concedes, CNN projects
“From each nook of our metropolis, Boston has spoken. We’re prepared to satisfy this second. We’re able to grow to be a Boston for everybody,” Wu stated to a crowd of supporters Tuesday night time. “I wish to be clear, it wasn’t my imaginative and prescient on the poll, it was ours, collectively.”
Metropolis Councilor Annissa Essaibi George conceded the Boston mayoral race with a big share of the vote nonetheless ready to be counted.
“I wish to provide an excellent large congratulations to Michelle Wu,” Essaibi George stated to a crowd of supporters at her election night time get together. “She’s the primary lady and first Asian American elected to be mayor of Boston.”
Wu is about to succeed appearing mayor Kim Janey, Boston’s first Black and feminine mayor. Janey, then-Metropolis Council President, was subsequent in line to guide the town when Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was named President Joe Biden’s Labor secretary in January.
Within the weeks main as much as the election, polls persistently confirmed Wu with a transparent lead over Essaibi George, additionally a lady of shade.
From the start, this election was a exceptional departure from Boston’s historical past. Uncontested mayoral races, the place there isn’t a incumbent searching for reelection, are exhausting to return by in Boston and sometimes draw crowded primaries within the Democrat-heavy metropolis. And on this 12 months’s unaffiliated main, each critical contender was an individual of shade, and most of them had been girls.
Championing hallmark insurance policies like a Inexperienced New Deal for Boston, Wu racked up help from high-profile Massachussetts progressives, reminiscent of Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren. Pressley, who represents a portion of Boston, additionally served on the Boston Metropolis Council with each Wu and Essaibi George.
Wu ran on a progressive platform, together with calling for a fare-free transit system.
Whereas each candidates locked down help from lots of Boston’s highly effective unions, Essaibi George touted endorsements from a variety of native unions such because the Boston Firefighters, Boston EMS, electrical employees, metal employees, Massachusetts Nurses Affiliation and extra.
Wu’s help included 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Staff East and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority unions.
But a big a part of Wu’s help got here from extra progressive organizations, such because the Working Households Celebration, Dawn Motion Boston, the native chapter of the nationwide youth-led local weather group and Deliberate Parenthood Massachusetts.
Whereas each candidates sought to distance themselves from the acquainted progressive vs. average divide within the Democratic get together, outdoors sources added some strain. Main as much as Election Day, a pro-Essaibi George tremendous PAC ran an advert claiming that Wu wished to “defund the police.” The Wu marketing campaign referred to as it “dishonest and determined.”
