Wu & Essaibi George Advance to Boston Mayoral Runoff While Janey Rendered a Footnote

Results were slow to come in last night Boston's preliminary mayoral election. Indeed we knew the outcome of California's recall election before any meaningful results came to pass. But it appears city councilors Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George will face off on November 2nd. Both Wu and Essaibi-George claimed victory while Acting Mayor Kim Janey and city councilor Andrea Campbell ceded defeat. 

While Janey made history as Boston's first female Mayor back in March after Marty Walsh was confirmed as Secretary of Labor, she will not be the first woman elected Mayor of New England's largest city. Janey certainly did not inspire my confidence when she likened vaccine passports to slavery back in August. Alas, Janey will be rendered a footnote come 2022.

Wu & Essaibi George are both Democrats but Wu is a progressive who favors the re-introduction of rent control while Essaibi George is more of a centrist and wants to increase police funding. Even if Wu gets rent control with rents in excess of $2,000 she might be a day late and a few thousand dollars short. Essaibi George might have troubled getting police budget increases through city council.

Both candidates have strong political allies. Wu was a protegee of Senator Elizabeth Warren while Essaibi George has known Walsh since childhood. Here Wu has the advantage as Walsh cannot campaign for Essaibi George although his mother certainly can. 

Essaibi George grew up in Dorchester while Wu was born and raised in Chicago before moving to the Boston area to study law at Harvard. While Essaibi George will emphasize her Boston roots being from Chicago didn't stop Deval Patrick from being elected Governor nor did it stop Ayanna Pressley from being elected to Congress. 

As mentioned a moment ago, Wu is an attorney by training while Essaibi George was a public school teacher. Wu is Chinese and would be the first Asian American Mayor of a major U.S. city while Essaibi George has a Polish mother and a Tunisian father. Wu is 36 and would also be one of the country's youngest mayor's while Essaibi George turns 48 in December.

So this will be an interesting race. Of course, I live in Cambridge where we don't have direct elections for mayor. If I were living in Boston proper I'd most likely vote for Essaibi George. We shall see what Boston says in six weeks from now.