Hometown card played
Essaibi-George contrasts her Hub roots with Wu’s Chicago upbringing
The first signs of spice have begun to show themselves in the Boston mayoral race, as Annissa EssaibiGeorge went on the radio to say the fact that she’s from here gives her an advantage over Michelle Wu.
Essaibi-George, appearing on GBH’s Boston Public Radio, was first asked what separates her from Wu, ticked off several points including her experience as a teacher and a civic association leader — and then noted that she’s “born and raised” here.
When Essaibi-George was asked to elaborate whether the fact that Wu’s from the Chicago area is important, the Dorchester native said, “It’s relevant to me, and I think it’s relevant to a lot of voters whether or not they’re born and raised in the city.”
She then noted that, therefore, she does have the experience growing up taking the MBTA and “navigating” Boston Public Schools.
Wu tweeted about her rival’s comments, but didn’t get too spicy.
“Reminder: The Mayor of Boston needs to lead for ALL of us,” Wu tweeted. “I’m ready to fight for every resident — whether you’ve been here since birth or chose to make Boston your home along the way.”
Her campaign declined to address the comments more directly.
Some of her supporters did add a bit more flavor, tweeting that this was “nativist” and “othering” language from EssaibiGeorge.
Both Wu and EssaibiGeorge are the children of immigrants, with Wu’s parents coming from Taiwan, and Essaibi-George having a father from Tunisia and a mother who was born in a displaced-persons camp in post-WWII Poland.
Wu and Essaibi-George will square off in the general-election contest Nov. 2 after the two were the top two vote-getters in the Sept. 14 preliminary. Wu received 33% of the vote to EssaibiGeorge’s 22%, with several other candidates finishing below them.
One of the pair will take office as mayor by mid-November.
Neither candidate has made much of a habit of going after the other directly so far. Each has made more vague suggestions of why they’re the better choice, with the more centrist Essaibi-George framing herself as someone with realistic ideas who gets things done — suggesting Wu isn’t like that — and Wu saying that she’s the only candidate with the strong big-picture vision and goals in the race.
In the GBH radio hit, Essaibi-George also slammed Wu as she talked about her own work ethic.
“I don’t see Michelle in our neighborhoods in our city the way I am present,” Essaibi-George said.
Both women currently are at-large city councilors. A poll from a month ago did indicate that more Bostonians have met Wu than had met Essaibi-George by a 12% to 7% margin.