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American cities are changing, as we recently highlighted in our article on Pittsburgh’s Mayor Ed Gainey. Gainey’s attempt to transform Pittsburgh, a manufacturing center, into a modern American city echo that of Michelle Wu in Boston. Wu, like Gainey, was elected recently in 2021. Wu was elected Boston's mayor, winning 64% of the vote. She is the first person of Asian descent to hold Boston’s highest elected office. She inherits a multi-racial and multi-ethnic city. Her challenge is to wield these often-ungovernable elements into a manageable unit.
Michelle Wu was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1985. Her parents are Taiwanese nationals who immigrated to the United States. Wu received her undergraduate training at Harvard in Economics. In 2012, Wu graduated from Harvard Law School and then worked as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
Wu’s political career began in 2010 when she worked for Mayor Thomas Menino in Boston City Hall as a Rappaport Fellow in Law and Public Policy.
She was elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013, when she was 28. Later in 2016, Wu became the President of the City Council. Consequently, she was the first non-white woman to serve as Council President.
Apart from these acheivements, Michelle has achieved several milestones in her career. She worked in a coalition to offer paid parental leaves in Boston, fought the climate crisis, launched Boston’s food truck program, provide a fare-free transit system, and advocated for eliminating corruption in the city’s bureaucracies.
She also sponsored the Paid Parental Leave ordinance and Healthcare Equity ordinance that were approved by the council. Furthermore, Wu authored Boston’s Communications Access ordinance. It promises access to the city’s services, regardless of the language barrier.
Not only this, but she also actively participated in environmental reforms. She and a fellow city councilor wrote an ordinance to ban plastic bags in 2017. She also authored the Good Food Purchasing Program, which aims to reduce racial inequity in the food chain.
As a strong advocate of transparency and accessibility within the city’s council, Mayor Michelle Wu has received strong support from the public. She continues to advocate in favor of minorities and the less fortunate to make Boston an inclusive city that welcomes everyone.
As Mayor of Boston, Wu has a strong following due to her active participation in reforms and laws that will help build a city that offers equal opportunities for every citizen, regardless of gender and color.
Her belief in advocacy has been tested during her brief tenure as Boston’s Mayor. In mid-August 2022, Boston Children’s Hospital became a subject to harassment campaigns over its transgender health program. The hospital had been a target of “hostile internet activity, phone calls, and harassing emails including threats of violence” toward its clinicians and staff.
Mayor Wu responded to the harassment, saying, “This is medical care. It is one of the preeminent, most renowned medical institutions in the country, doing what they do best — which is providing important, necessary care for the health and wellbeing of our community members.”
Wu’s tenure shows the importance of building coalitions, being a strong advocate for ethnic and racial minorities and building a more inclusive city for all.