Michelle Wu sworn in as Boston's mayor

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Michelle Wu was sworn in as Boston's Mayor by Judge Myoun J. Joun.

 
Michelle Wu, the daughter of immigrants from Taiwan, was officially sworn in as the next Mayor of Boston. She is the first woman and first Asian American to lead the historic city.

Wu, 36m took the oath of office Tuesday in the Boston City Council Chamber, just two weeks after her history-making election. Before Wu, Boston voters had elected only White men.

"Boston was founded on a revolutionary promise: that things don’t have to be as they always have been. That we can chart a new path for families now, and for generations to come, grounded in justice and opportunity,” she said after the swearing-in ceremony.

With her two young sons holding the Bible, Wu recited the Oath Office, repeating the words of Judge Myong J. Joun. 

Wu was sworn in on the Aitken Bible, the earliest complete English-language Bible printed in America. Often known as the “Bible of the Revolution,” it was published by Robert Aitken in 1782 and it was endorsed by the Congress as a symbol of American ingenuity.

Wu grew up in Chicago and moved to Boston to attend Harvard University and Harvard Law School where she studied under U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. In 2016, her peers on the city's city council elected president of the Boston City Council. 

"City government is special," Wu said in her inauguration speech. "We are the level closest to the people, so we must do the big and the small. Every streetlight, every pothole, every park, and classroom, lays the foundation for greater change."

One of her progressive campaign planks was to eliminate fares on the city's public transportation system, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MTBA). She and her family rode the subway to the swearing-in ceremony.

Interviewed by Boston Public Radio, Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung told Boston Public Radio: “(Mayor Wu) won in every part of the city, and in doing so, it shows that Boston accepts Asian Americans — that even though she was not born in Boston or raised in Boston, she is a Bostonian."

Now Michelle Wu's real campaign begins for Boston mayor

Michelle Wu thanks her volunteers.

Just two hours after the polls closed Tuesday (Sept. 14), Michelle Wu declared her one of the two finalists for Boston Mayor.

An hour later, Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George  claimed the other spot to challenge Wu to become Boston's mayor on Nov. 2.

Wu, endorsed by Massachusett's progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, led in the polling leading up election day and maintained that lead as the votes were counted. 

“I’m overjoyed to share with you in our home neighborhood of Roslindale that we are confident that we are in the top two,” Wu told her supporters at Distraction Brewing Co. to await the results.

The 36-year old Wu, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, became the first Asian American councilor after winning election in 2014. If elected, she would become the first woman of color to hold that position.

The special election was necessary after Mayor Marty Walsh accepted President Biden's invitation to become the Secretary of Labor.

The final count is not expected until the 7000 mail-in ballots that were dropped off on the election day are counted.

"Tonight is not a victory celebration, it is a thank you for what we have been through together and a reminder we have 49 days to get it done,” Wu reminded her supporters.

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Vote today! Michelle Wu leading in race for Boston's mayorship

MICHELLE WU CAMPAIGN

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., right, campaigns for City Councilor Michelle Wu,
who is running to become Boston's mayor.

Boston's next mayor may be an Asian American woman reflecting the changing political landscape of the historical city.

Michelle Wu, a city councilwoman, has been running for Mayor for almost a year and of the polls are any indication, the chances are good that she'll be one of the two mayoral candidates vying for the city's top post on Nov. 2.

Wu, who has the endorsement of Sen. Elizabeth Warren leads the polls with the other candidates -- Acting Mayor Kim Janey, City Councilors Andrea Campbell and Annissa Essaibi George, and former city economic development chief John Barros. -- hoping to capture the second spot.

The election is nonpartisan so the finalists could very well be of the same party in the city that is heavily Democratic.

"Growing up, I never thought I would run for office one day. As the daughter of immigrants, I understood from my youngest days how my family and so many others feel unseen and unheard in our society," said Wu in a statement.

“I recognize the ways in which I’m not the typical mold of a Boston politician, but it’s really not just gender and ethnicity or age necessarily, although [it’s] all of those things,” she said.

Find your polling place, here.

Last Saturday, a rally with Warren was held in Chinatown, the neighborhood is where Wu first began volunteering and community organizing in Boston nearly two decades ago.

“If there was ever a moment when we needed to organize, to fight, to stand up to tackle impossible odds, it is right now. We are facing an ongoing public health crisis and a climate crisis and a displacement crisis. But this is a city, and a community, that stands up to fight," said Wu. 

Boston's Asian American population makes up 10% of the city's residents; White, 53%; Blacks, 25%; and Hispanic, 20%. 

"After eight years in the City Council, ten years in City Hall, we have seen the power we have to make that change at the local level. I’m so grateful to Senator Elizabeth Warren for being in this fight with me, and know that together, we will take on the big challenges to meet this incredibly important moment,” said Wu.

“I believe in Michelle because I know Michelle. I’ve known Michelle since she was my student, since she had the courage to step up and run for City Council. I’ve known her as a partner in the fight for childcare, more affordable housing and a Boston that works for working people," said Warren.

“We need more working parents in leadership roles. It makes a difference when moms are in charge, and for me, being a mom and raising two boys in this moment in our city and in our country’s history gives me an urgency to make sure that we’re getting things done,” Wu told Yahoo News. “You put a Boston public school mom in charge [of] our city, and we will see changes to match the scale and urgency of our community’s needs.”

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