Ayanna throws backing to Wu
Michelle Wu has picked up the endorsement of Boston’s resident Squad member U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley who has signed onto her campaign for mayor.
“At this pivotal moment in our city’s history, we need bold leadership — that’s why I’m so proud to endorse Michelle’s candidacy for Mayor,” Pressley said in a Friday morning statement. “I look forward to continuing to work alongside her to tackle the entrenched challenges of racial, social, economic, healthcare and environmental injustice facing our communities.”
Pressley was the first Black woman elected to the Boston City Council, a body she served on for a decade before she was elected to Congress in 2018.
She and Wu overlapped as two of the city’s four atlarge councilors from 2014 until then. She picked the further-left Wu over the more centrist Annissa Essaibi-George — another at-large councilor who overlapped with the pair on that body starting in 2016.
Pressley has become well-known nationally as a member of the “Squad,” a group of hard-left reps in Congress.
She shocked the Massachusetts political landscape when she ran a successful campaign to unseat Michael Capuano, a longtime congressman from Somerville. Pressley, who now lives in Hyde Park after moving recently from Ashmont, represents nearly two-thirds of the city of Boston, plus some surrounding areas to the north and south.
Importantly for Wu — a fellow Chicago-area native to Pressley — the congresswoman has enjoyed strong support among the city’s more heavily Black neighborhoods, which are seen as a key swing constituency in this race.
Neither Wu nor Essaibi-George did particularly well among areas with large numbers of voters of color, with Wu being most successful in neighborhoods with further-left whites, and Essaibi-George in parts with more centrist or conservative whites.
Acting Mayor Kim Janey won many of the city’s more heavily Black precincts, with City Council Andrea Campbell and, in some parts, former city economic development director John Barros — all of whom are Black — also finishing strongly in areas including Roxbury and Mattapan.
Since the Sept. 14 preliminary election, Wu has picked up more endorsers of color, including Janey, members of the wellknown Hispanic Arroyo family and state Rep. Liz Miranda.
Essaibi-George has not had the high-profile pols endorsing her in the same way, though she has continued to add union support, and organized labor’s members in Boston are diverse.
On Friday, she picked up Insulators Local 6 after Laborers Local 223 earlier this week as many of the building trades coalesce around her.
Wu also enjoys union support from the Teamsters Local 25 and the 1199 SEIU, among others.
Wu led the way in September’s preliminary race with 33% to Essaibi-George’s 22%. Campbell and then Janey had 20% and 19%, respectively.