After she was sworn in for a second term Monday, Mayor Michelle Wu delivered a speech full of soaring rhetoric that described Boston as a beacon of freedom.
Shortly afterward, Wu’s perceived skill at playing hardball politics once again became part of the story of her mayoralty.
A dramatic meeting to elect the next president of the Boston City Council ended with the surprise selection of City Councilor Liz Breadon, an immigrant from Northern Ireland who represents Allston-Brighton.
Speaking with reporters after her victory, Breadon, who is the first openly gay council president, acknowledged that she became a candidate only after fellow councilors Enrique Pepén and Sharon Durkan visited her “quite late” on Sunday night and asked her to be “a compromise candidate.” Both Pepén and Durkan are strong Wu allies, and with their support, along with that of four other councilors, as well as her own vote, Breadon was the winner, besting Councilor Brian Worrell.
That result was a disappointing turn of events for Worrell. On Sunday night, he had reason to believe he had the seven votes needed to win and replace outgoing president Ruthzee Louijeune after Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata, who was seen as Wu’s first choice, withdrew from the contest. But despite intense lobbying that continued on the council floor while the vote was being taken on Monday, he couldn’t pull it off.
Asked after the vote if he thought that Breadon was Wu’s candidate, Worrell said, “I don’t know who is the mayor’s candidate. We’re the Boston City Council. It is our decision and we should be making that decision. I hope everyone based it on their own judgment.”
But Councilor Erin Murphy, who supported Worrell, said she “absolutely” saw Wu’s fingerprints on the end result.
Asked if Wu had a preferred candidate, the answer from City Hall was “no.”
Whether or not that’s true, it’s certainly a sign of Wu’s perceived aura of power to believe she could handpick the next council president.
However it evolved, the choice of Breadon sends a mixed message about the new Boston. In selecting her, councilors — including three councilors of color — chose a white woman who speaks with a brogue over Worrell, a Black man, who in his address to fellow councilors talked about the importance of sending a message of inclusion and opportunity for all. “When people can see a real path forward, they see hope,” Worrell said.
In her address to councilors, Breadon said she considers herself “an ally for our communities of color.” Afterward, she told reporters that as president she will try to “build bridges and be a peacemaker.”
Breadon said she agreed to take on the role of compromise candidate because “there was a certain dynamic that was setting up an ‘us and them’ vote.” When I asked who was “us” and who was “them,” she said, “I don’t want to get into that.”
She also said she believes in the importance of an independent council, and one person who knows her well told me she is no pushover.
Still, others, like Murphy, believe that Wu wants to exert control over committees and thinks Breadon will be easier to keep in line than Worrell.
During the council meeting, Councilor Julia Mejia, who supported Worrell, spoke passionately about the need for political courage. Breadon’s acknowledgment that she had just gotten into the contest the night before was reason for alarm, Mejia said, because “it should let us in on what is happening behind the veil and how politics is being done.”
To such critics of the behind-the-scenes dealmaking that led to her selection, Breadon said, “Those conversations have always happened behind closed doors.” And it’s true, they have. That’s the way politics works, and Wu has never been shy about engaging in that process.
Since her entrance into city politics, Wu has played the dual role of progressive reformer and old-school pol. When she first won a seat on the City Council, her first act was to pledge her vote to a conservative councilor in exchange for his support the next time around, for a Wu stint as president. In doing so, she denied support to Ayanna Pressley, who was a fellow city councilor at the time. The move enraged Wu’s progressive supporters, but it positioned her exactly where she wanted to be — on the path to becoming the first woman and first person of color to win election as mayor of Boston.
In the preliminary election in September, she crushed her opponent, Josh Kraft, to the point that he dropped out of the race. In that race, she took on President Trump and she is now the face of Trump resistance, a point she emphasized in her inauguration speech.
But in Boston City Hall, she is also the face of power and control.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at joan.vennochi@globe.com. Follow her @joan_vennochi.