Boston Mayor Michelle Wu throws down gauntlet vs. Trump after her victory

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wins her re-election.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's sends a message of defiance against Donald Trump as she celebrates her victory Tuesday.

There was no suspense when the polls closed. Wu, the first Asian American mayor ran unopposed after trouncing her only challenger in the primaries and her popularity soared when she challenged Trump's immigration policies.

The national profile of 40-year old Wu and mother of three rose in the last six months as Boston grappled with Donald Trump's policies descended on the city and the nation.

Wu has a contentious relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), characterized by her efforts to obtain more information about ICE arrests in Boston, her public criticism of their tactics, and her administration's policies that are considered a form of "sanctuary city" policy.

This has led to backlash from the Trump administration, which has accused her of obstructing federal immigration laws.Trump's Department of Justice sued Wu, the City of Boston and the Boston Police Department for their sanctuary city policies.

“Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law – city, state and federal,” Wu said in a statement. “We are the safest major city in the country because all of our community members know that they are part of how we keep the entire community safe. Stop attacking cities to hide your administration’s failures.”

For her resistance and the city's "sanctuary city" policies, Trump has threatened to send the National Guard to Boston, which he describes as a crime-ridden city.

Despite Trump's claims of Boston's heavy crime across the city the city has seen decreases in crime in recent years. In 2024, Boston broke the record for lowest number of homicides in the city since 1957, according to a press conference.

“On behalf of the people of Boston, and in solidarity with communities targeted by the Trump administration for our refusal to bow down to unlawful threats, we affirm our support for each other and for our democracy,” said Wu in a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Boston will never back down from being a beacon of freedom and a home for everyone.”

In her victory speech Tuesday night, Wu said: "You'd think, at some point, they'd learn: Boston doesn't back down." 

"That is what this election was about here in Boston," she said. "Not just how we lead, but what we believe. Whether we believe that wealth should buy power—We don't. Whether experience matters—It does. And most of all, whether we will bow to a criminal who acts like a king."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. 

Tributes pour in for Norm Mineta, first Asian American Cabinet Secretary

Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, 1931-2022 

Norman Mineta, the first Asian American to serve in a Presidential Cabinet, died Tuesday from a heart ailment. He was 90 years old.

Mineta's son, David Mineta, said in a statement: "My dad passed away peacefully Tuesday afternoon at his home surrounded by his family," in Edgewater, Maryland.

Asian American members of Congress, many of whom were mentored by the political trailblazer, credited Mineta's impact and key role in Asian American history.

"Generations of Asian American leaders, including myself, have looked up to Norm as the perfect example of an outstanding public servant," said Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, which Mineta co-founded.

He was the first Asian American to serve as Mayor of a major American city, San Jose, CA., a 10-term Congressman representing Silicon Valley and Transportation Secretary for both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

"Despite all he accomplished, he always prioritized opening doors for future AANHPI leaders. He showed us how much we could achieve and pulled us up with him, and especially valued mentoring young people, like like students and interns, who were interested in advocating for our communities," said Chu.

"An early supporter of LGBTQ equality, he used his moral stature to persuade the Japanese American Citizens League meeting in convention in 1994 to be the first non-LGBTQ civil rights organization to embrace same sex unions," recalled Rep. Mark Takano, an openly gay member of Congress.

"As Transportation Secretary during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Norm not only gave orders to ground all commercial flights, but he is also was credited by President George W. Bush for being a voice of restraint against any reprisals against Muslim Americans in cabinet level meetings."

Secretary Mineta was instrumental in securing the deserved apology and financial compensation for the cruel and unjust internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Born on Nov. 12, 1931, Norman Yoshio Mineta was 10 years old and wearing his Cub Scouts uniform when he and his parents were detained at Heart Mountain in Wyoming after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

After the war, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and serve as an Army intelligence officer in Korea and Japan. After three years with the military, he returned to San Jose to run his father’s Mineta Insurance Agency.

Mineta’s political career begain in 1967, when he was appointed to a vacant seat on the San Jose City Council. He won re-election and served four more years on the council before winning the mayorship in 1971, making him the first Asian American mayor of a major city, which now has an airport that bears his name.

In 2006, he resigned as Transportation Secretary at age 74 after 5 and 1/2 years in his post.

The Japanese American Civic League issued this statement: "Secretary Mineta was a hero and a pillar in our community. He fought for civil liberties at the highest levels of government and remained a steadfast beacon of activists throughout his long career. Members of our community remember him as a patriot and a friend who fought to make sure that America lived up to the ideals of justice that it promises. His kindness and warmth helped to uplift those who he mentored and assisted throughout his time with the JACL. We are left shocked and saddened by his passing, and we know that the JACL will not be the same without his guidance, leadership, and compassion. However, we at the JACL will continue to strive to protect his ideals and legacy, and continue to devote our efforts toward the values of freedom and equality that Secretary Mineta held, and the goals and aspirations that he shared with us for our community and its future."

"He was a brilliant legislative strategist. He also helped to ensure that the bilingual ballot provisions of the Voting Rights Act were not only reauthorized but expanded – one of the reasons why so many more Asian Americans are able to vote and so many more Asian Americans are getting elected to office 30 years later, recalled Karen Narasaki, former JACL Washington Representative and former commissioner, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights ... Mineta insisted on taking a strong position supporting the right for same sex couples to marry. His speech is one of the reasons JACL maintained its historic position by a handful of votes. He told me that a good Congressman should be willing to risk losing donors and an election to be on the right side of history. "

"I sat in meetings with him when he was Secretary of Transportation, after 9/11, with members of the South Asian, Middle Eastern, and Muslim communities, experiencing discrimination at airports where he committed to reminding the airlines of their obligations not to discriminate and am certain that Mineta is one of the reasons that President Bush made an early visit to a mosque to try to stem the backlash," Narasaki continued.

"As my Secretary of Transportation, he showed great leadership in helping prevent further attacks on and after 9/11," George W. Bush wrote. "As I said when presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Norm has given his country a lifetime of service, and he's given his fellow citizens an example of leadership, devotion to duty, and personal character."

Survivors included two sons from his previous marriage, David Mineta of San Jose and Stuart Mineta of Redwood City, Calif.; two stepsons, Robert Brantner of West River, Md., and Mark Brantner of Johnson City, Tenn.; and 11 grandchildren.

Funeral services are planned for Monday, May 9. Further details are forthcoming.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Yang campaign holds on to hope in NYC mayoral race

It's election day in New York City. and Andrew Yang.

Editor's Note: This article was edited on June 22, 11 a.m. to clarity that this is a primary election.

 

It is anybody's race for New York City mayor as voter's go to the polls today to determine who will be the city's Democratic nominee for mayor.

Andrew Yang seeks to become NYC's first Asian American mayor by running as an outsider who will offer a new path and new ideas hoping that will counter his lack of political experience. 

The winner of the Democratic primary will almost certainly be New York City's next mayor because of the huge edge Democrats have no matter who the Republican nominee will be.

Yang's early lead has disappeared and in most polls, the former presidential candidate finds himself behind Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president..

In the finals days of the mayoral campaign, Adams, an African American, accused Yang and former Sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia of creating an allyship to tamp down the Black vote.

"For them to come together like they are doing in the last three days, they're saying we can't trust a person of color to be the mayor of the City of New York when this city is overwhelmingly people of color," Adams said.

Yang responded, "I've been Asian all my entire life."

"Imagine an administration that is led by someone who cuts corners and breaks rules and is constantly under investigation and then attacks whenever he's criticized and then invokes race as the rationale for any criticism that's directed toward him, and then you imagine hundreds of managers taking their cues from this person," Yang told The New York Times on Monday.

“I’m not even going to respond," to Adams' attack said Garcia, who is white who grew up in a multi-racial family. In a statement, she accused Adams of “resorting to divisive politics that erode New York City’s democracy.”

Garcia and Yang have been appearing together in the days leading up to voting day, which is not uncommon in elections that use ranked voting. The candidates hope to get their ally's supporter's second or third choice vote, which will come into play if none of the candidates receive more than 50% of the ballots. With eight candidates running for mayor, it is likely that no one will have a majority of the votes.

Yang's early lead slowly dissipated because of his inexperience in campaigning and apparent lack of knowing the weeds of public policy and critical issues resulting in some embarrassing gaffs that might seem inconsequential but played into the media portrayal of him as not a "real" New Yorker, despite living in the city for 25 years.

His supporters say the attacks are a form of the "othering" of Asian Americans, reinforcing the stereotyping of AAPI as perpetual foreigners.

TWITTER

Andrew Yang rallies his New York City supporters. "Let's win this," he said.

In a bit of a jujitsu move, Yang turned his political inexperience into an asset by claiming the city needed new leadership with new ideas, not just the same old status quo. He's campaigned on public safety and revived a trimmed down version of his Universal Basic Income idea that was so popular during his presidential bid.

“We do feel like we are getting our voters out now," Yang's co-campaign manager Chris Coffey told Spectrum News. "It’s a very strong Asian number among folks who’ve already voted, Orthodox Jewish number is pretty good, Staten Island’s a little bit higher than it usually is, not by much, but a little bit.”

Yang's campaign to get strong support from young voters and those groups who are traditionally underpolled, including Orthodox Jews and Asian Americans.

“Our team just did a poll of the people that have actually voted and it had us in the lead," Yang said Friday. "The numbers show also that 30 to 40% of the voters are new voters and we think they’re coming out in droves for change.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: VOTE! New York City polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

TWITTER

Andrew Yang's whirlwind campaign stopped in Chinatown Monday  to speak against AAPI hate.