Arroyos endorse Wu for mayor
Michelle Wu has picked up significant — if complicated — endorsements from the Arroyo family as the mayoral candidates continue to make outreach to communities of color.
“We have a real opportunity here to make sure that the city reflects what it should reflect — the ideals and the promises that have long been dormant,” City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo said at an event Tuesday at which he and his father, Suffolk County Register of Probate Felix D. Arroyo, endorsed Wu for mayor.
This is an important endorsement, as the Arroyos are easily the city’s most well-known Latino family and have had three members sit on the city council.
Neither Wu nor her generalelection opponent, Annissa Essaibi-George, did particularly well among people of color in September’s preliminary election, so both now are trying to prove themselves to those voters.
The Hyde Park-centric Ward 18, where the Arroyos hail from, is a big basket of votes, accounting for more than one in 10 ballots cast in the city in the preliminary. It has large Black and Hispanic populations, and Acting Mayor Kim Janey handily won it in the preliminary election — even though Wu lives there. The Arroyos endorsed Janey for mayor in July and campaigned for her particularly around Ricardo Arroyo’s council district, which includes Hyde Park.
Asked what Hispanic voters are looking for, Ricardo Arroyo ticked off a few issues, including language access and small-business recovery. He pointed out that Latinos make up a fifth of the city population, and many have kids in Boston Public Schools.
But the Arroyo family endorsement does bring some complications. The elder Arroyo was temporarily removed from his job as register in 2017 amid allegations of mismanagement as the office fell apart. An independent report faulted the combination of his management, as well as “arguably sabotage” from his employees.
And Felix G. Arroyo, another son of Felix D. Arroyo, is a former city councilor, 2013 mayoral candidate and city Health and Human Services Chief who currently has a significant active lawsuit against City Hall. He sued for wrongful termination after thenMayor Martin Walsh fired him in 2017 after a woman accused Arroyo of sexual harassment, and the case remains ongoing.
Felix G. Arroyo didn’t endorse Wu — and he also didn’t endorse Janey when his brother and father did so — but he did show up to the Wu event with his family members.