Photo courtesy of Mayor-elect for the City of Boston, Michelle WuBy Juan Perfetti
The campaign is finally over. Boston City Councilor At-Large Michelle Wu is the newly elected Mayor of Boston after beating Dorchester resident and City Councilor At-Large Annissa Essaibi-George on the mayoral election of November 2, 2021.
Essaibi-George conceded the results, that according to the unofficial numbers from the local government: Wu ended with 63.94% (91,239 votes) and Essaibi-George 35.65% (50,879 votes).
However, the winner in the race was more likely the indifference (distrust?) of the community who live in this great city, because an astonishing 63.3% (248,247) of the total active voters (391,794) decided not to cast a vote.
Despite Wu having the support and endorsements from famous politicians in Washington like Warren, Markey, and Pressley; the endorsement from the “popular” Boston Globe and the quasi-institutional support of the Acting Mayor Kim Janey; notwithstanding all the forced hype narrative from the ruling class about the identity-intersectionality uniqueness of the race… Despite all of that, the voter turnout of this “historical” election was just 36.7% of the active voters, the lowest voter participation in a Boston mayoral election without an incumbent running in recent history. Just as a contrast, Marty Walsh won the 2013 election with a 42.8% voter turnout.
In any case -because apathy does not govern- a new political era has indeed started in Boston with the election of Michelle Wu.
Hopefully, Mayor Wu will represent and serve everyone in Boston, not just the minority who voted her or the ruling class, media, and politicians that endorsed her.
