Walsh boosts primary contenders and own profile
He is not the Mayor of America.
That was the late Boston Mayor Kevin White. He was the Boston pol we dubbed Kevin Deluxe, the Mayor of America, because of his lavish political lifestyle (financed by the taxpayer) and his political selfimportance.
No, current Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is more the “Mayor of Massachusetts.” He has emerged as the most important and powerful Democratic Party leader in the state. Having mastered the machine politics of Boston, Walsh is branching out across the state. He has intruded himself into several Democratic primary campaigns that have taken him from the Hub to, of all places, Hudson.
That’s where the Mayor of Massachusetts was Saturday morning, starring in the opening of a Dan Koh for Congress campaign headquarters. Walsh is the first Boston mayor to have visited Hudson in recorded history. Hudson is 41 miles from Boston City Hall, or 66 kilometers if you are the mayor of the increasingly globalist city of Boston.
Unlike his three stay-athome predecessors, Walsh has no fear of traveling long distances in Massachusetts to support a friend, even if it means making political enemies.
The late Boston Mayor Tom Menino, whom Walsh succeeded, never left the neighborhoods. Ray Flynn before him thought a road trip was traveling from his home in South Boston to Beacon Hill. As far as the imperial Kevin Deluxe was concerned — you came to him, he did not go to you.
Koh, 33, the candidate, is Walsh’s former chief of staff. He is one of 10 candidates running for the Democratic nomination in the 3rd Congressional District. The seat is held by U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas of Lowell, who is not running for re-election.
Walsh is also supporting veteran U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano of Somerville over challenger Ayanna Pressley, a Boston city councilor. And in a statewide primary contest, he has endorsed Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim of Zakim Bridge fame for secretary of state over veteran incumbent Billy Galvin. Political observers cannot recall any other Boston mayors intruding into party primary politics, let alone traveling outside of the city to actively campaign for primary candidates.
While Walsh may be successful in helping his candidates, he is bound to ruffle a few feathers among Democrats along the way. But who cares? He doesn’t. He is the biggest mayor in the state. Told that it just has not been done by Boston mayors before, Walsh, warming up to knock on Hudson doors for Koh, said, “I’ve not been mayor before.” Walsh knows that helping your friends get elected is one way to secure the top power spot in the state’s Democratic Party. His rise has been rapid. One day he was just another state rep from Dorchester, and now he is a second-term mayor of a robust city. He heads the biggest and most effective political organization in the state.
He can turn out the vote, as will be seen on primary day when Walsh’s political organization rouses Boston voters to support Zakim and Capuano.
With Koh it is different since physically the 3rd District is outside of Boston. But Walsh has raised campaign money for his protege and is campaigning for Koh in the flesh. Other top-ranking Democrats like U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, as well as other members of the state’s congressional delegation, have gone out of their way to remain neutral in the primary fights, fearing repercussions. Not Walsh. Asked about backlash from losing candidates, Walsh just shrugged. In the process, he is banking on gathering political IOUs that will come in handy when — not if — the 51-year-old mayor wants to run for governor in 2022, or the U.S. Senate, when an opening occurs.
Far-fetched? Not at all.
But first things first.
Standing outside Koh’s Hudson campaign headquarters before 100 or so campaign volunteers Saturday morning, Walsh talked about Koh as though he were the son he never had. “There is no question in my mind that he is the best candidate in the race,” Walsh said.
Walsh appears to be on a mission to re-energize the Democratic Party, elect his friends and let people outside of Boston know who he is. They now know him in Hudson. He is the Mayor of Massachusetts.