Boston equity chief resigns amid mayoral rumors
Boston Chief of Equity Karilyn Crockett has resigned amid rumors she’s considering a mayoral run.
Crockett’s resignation is effective Friday, she wrote in her letter to Mayor Martin Walsh. In the letter, she praised Walsh and talked about the strides the city has made.
“Your visionary commitment to embedding equity in all City of Boston plans, processes and regulations has led to path-breaking work in the areas of police reform, racial equity, health equity and economic inclusion,” she wrote, touting the new Office of Police Accountability and Transparency and the Boston Racial Equity Fund.
GBH first reported Crockett’s resignation.
Rumors that Crockett is mulling a mayoral run have circulated for more than a month now.
If she does jump in, she’d be joining an increasingly crowded race.
City Councilors Michelle Wu and Andrea Campbell have been running since September, and in the two months since Walsh became
President Biden’s pick for Labor secretary, they’ve been joined by City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George, state Rep. Jon Santiago and, just Thursday morning, former city economic development chief John Barros.
Like Crockett, Barros was a Walsh cabinet member who resigned last week in order to run this week.
State Sen. Nick Collins, D-Boston, and City Council President Kim Janey, who will become acting mayor after Walsh’s imminent departure, are also mulling getting into the race.
Two long-shot candidates,
Dorchester hotel manager Dana Depelteau and Brighton man Michael Bianchi, are also in the race.
Walsh created the chief of equity position last summer, amid the widespread protests around racial issues. He chose Crockett, then a lecturer on urban history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to fill the spot.
In the resignation letter, Crockett wrote to Walsh, “While this is not the timeline either of us may have planned, I could not be more excited by your nomination as the next U.S. Secretary of Labor.”