After a long line of uncontested white male mayors for the city of Boston, the first Black mayor and first woman, Kim Janey, was sworn in as mayor of Boston in March 2021. Though Janey will not be mayor next year, the final frontrunners competing for the Nov. 2 seat are two women of color, Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George, ready to continue carrying their torch and lead Boston out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March, former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was selected to be secretary of labor under the Biden administration and left a vacancy in his seat. As president of the city council, Janey became the acting mayor of Boston, pioneering two very monumental “firsts” for the City of Boston, as a traditional election to determine the next mayor began.
Standing on the shoulders of trailblazers like Deahdra Butler-Henderson, a single mother from Jamaica Plain who ran for mayor in Boston 46 years ago,Janey finally realized her dream by serving as the first woman and first Black mayor of Boston.
Though Janey was unable to move beyond the primaries after the Sept. 14 election, she ended her campaign strong.
“We not only made history, but we made a difference,” she said during her concession speech. "Crime is down, people are staying in their homes due to work we’ve done with rental assistance and an eviction moratorium, our children are safely back in school and Boston is one of the most vaccinated big cities in America.”
Many Boston residents were disappointed to see that, despite the historic shift in Boston politics, no Black candidates progressed past the primary.
“The fact that the two lightest-skinned candidates advanced, leaving behind all three Black candidates [Kim Janey, Andrea Campbell and John Barros] at a time when racial justice and reparations for the Black community are at the forefront of the progressive world’s mind and agenda, is something historic in and of itself,” Sofía Friedman, a senior working on Andrea Campbell’s mayoral campaign, wrote in an email to the Daily.
While Janey and Campbell are no longer in the running for mayor, the other runners have similar goals for the city of Boston.
“This is the moment on our shoulders,” Wu said during a post-election rally. “When we get to push for that vision, for that city that we dream of, for us to use every possible tool, every lever of power in city government to fight for housing stability, affordable housing [and] home ownership for our residents.”
Boston is one of the most segregated citiesin the country. The city is struggling to desegregate schools and create a means for the disproportionately high population of Black and Latinx residents in public housing to reach home ownership. Nevertheless, it seems as though a new dawn may be approaching with the mayoral race — the majority of candidates running for mayor are women of color hoping to address inequality and the Boston housing crisis.
Although Friedman is not originally a resident of Boston, she believes that students are responsible for being informed and involved in local politics even if their permanent address is not in Boston.
"Boston is a growing first-class city that will continue to lead on the national stage,” she wrote. “As Tufts students, we do not live in Boston, we are nonetheless impacted by and impactful on Boston as a city.”
Friedman continued to explain the importance of students being educated on the current political scene.
“We ought to be educated on the social, cultural, political, and racial circumstances that led Boston to where it is, that led Boston to having its most historic field of candidates for Mayor, and that led Boston to exclude all three Black candidates from making it into the general election,” she wrote.
Friedman believes that the best thing young people can do is to stay informed and get involved with local politics.
“It was never a question for me what campaign to work on. Andrea makes me proud to be a woman, a person of color, a resident of the Greater Boston area, and a change maker,” she said. “Despite the outcome of the September 14th election, I could think of no one better to be my role model as I start my senior year of college.”
With the general election lying ahead on Nov. 2, Boston will face its final choice to determine the next mayor. Some top issues on voters’ minds are housing, inequality and racism. While Wu had a strong lead with 33.4% of the vote in comparison to Essaibi George with 22.5%, the heated race for mayor continues.
Friedman recommends that students stay informed about the mayoral election by reading local papers such as the Boston Herald and the Boston Globe, following local reporters on Twitter to get real time notifications on new developments in the race or even volunteering for a campaign they believe in and support.
“I think the mayoral race is important for students to pay attention to because of how historic this race is and continues to be. The fact that there was only one man in the running, and that every single candidate was a person of color, was truly incredible,” she added. “If it cannot be Andrea, I believe our city will be in the best hands with Michelle Wu as our next Mayor.”
