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On Nov. 2, Boston voted in Michelle Wu as its new mayor, the first woman, person of color, and Asian American elected to the role. This section covers the run-up to the historic election, and will be charting the beginning of the new administration.

The results

Where the mayoral candidates got their support

This interactive map shows votes received by Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George down to the precinct level.
Precinct-by-precinct results

More news

What Wu’s pick to lead planning signals about the future of development in Boston

James Arthur Jemison II, a senior official with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development who worked in the Menino and Patrick administrations, is Mayor Michelle Wu’s choice to serve as Boston’s top planner.

Marty Walsh and Kamala Harris have formed an unlikely bond in politics and beyond

In what has become one of the more unusual pairings in the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris and Marty Walsh, the Secretary of Labor, have struck up a tight bond that started with policy and has evolved into a personal connection that has surprised even those close to them.

More about Boston's mayor-elect

Who is Michelle Wu, the first Asian American and first woman to be elected mayor of Boston?

Here are some important things to know about the newly elected mayor.

The one when Michelle Wu opens a café — and finds a passion for trying to make government work
Before she was a lawyer or a city councilor or a mayoral candidate, before she was a wife or mother, Michelle Wu was the owner of a literary-themed café in Chicago.

‘Redefining what leadership looks like’: What Michelle Wu’s win means for representation

“To have somebody who is the face of the city,” said Sam Hyun, chairperson of the Massachusetts Asian American Commission, “it’s absolutely historic.”

Michelle Wu’s policy proposals on five major issues facing Boston

We break down Michelle Wu's policy platforms on five major issues: housing and rent control, education, racial justice/policing reform, business, and climate change.

Election results

Boston mayor
Michelle Wu

Michelle Wu

91,239 votes64.2%

Annissa Essaibi George
35.8%50,879 votes

Source: AP

100.0% Reporting

See full results

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City Council race

New Boston City Council takes shape

A new Boston City Council is taking shape after an array of competitive races, including five open seats, brought significant turnover to the city’s legislative body, and some historic firsts. Voters also weighed in on issues such as policing and affordable housing.

Halbert concedes to Murphy, who wins fourth at-large seat on the Boston City Council

Erin Murphy edged David Halbert by 325 votes.

The issues that matter

On policing, Boston mayoral candidates Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George are miles apart

Essaibi George’s policing stances have cast her as a more centrist figure in the race, while Wu’s unabashed progressivism and calls for reform contributed to a decisive victory in September’s preliminary contest.

One of the biggest fights Boston’s next mayor will face: keeping control of the public schools
Both Annissa Essaibi George and Michelle Wu say they are up to the challenge of overhauling the Boston Public Schools system, and neither wants the district to be taken over by the state.

Voters say housing is their top priority. In a contested stretch of the city, what do they actually want?
The next mayor will have to steer Boston through a housing crisis that increasingly splits the city’s haves and have-nots.

Unfair dress codes, no hip-hop, few local clubs: These are the issues around nightlife in Boston Black voters want addressed
A forum last month highlighted how Boston’s party scene is failing Black communities.

Black News Hour presented by The Boston Globe

Run by Black journalists at The Boston Globe, “Black News Hour,” a new radio program, delivers reliable news that connects with our community and expands on deeper issues impacting our city.

Read more

Federal COVID funds offer Boston Mayor Michelle Wu a big boost with her big plans

Boston is sitting on what could be a transformative sum of money just as it welcomes a mayor intent on transforming the city.
Yvonne Abraham

Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has brought us to a terrifying moment. And one of revelation.

The world appears to be snapping out of its complacency, shaking off its self-absorption.

Michelle Wu has raised over $1 million for her inaugural festivities, most of it from Boston’s power brokers

Wu’s inaugural fund as Boston mayor places her squarely within an age-old political tradition: tapping the wealthy and powerful to pay for festivities where top donors gain access to the city’s new leader.

In Brookline, questions abound for the future of its police department

Last week brought more upheaval, with acting chief Mark Morgan going on medical leave and a new acting chief, its fourth top cop in as many years, appointed by the Select Board.

Mayor Wu swears in new Boston City Council amid antivaccine protest

The swearing-in ceremony, which marked the official beginning for a diverse group of newcomers to the council, was disrupted by a small group of protesters frustrated with the city’s vaccination mandates in response to the surge of the highly infectious Omicron variant.

Michelle Wu visits the White House and delivers a message that Boston is prepared to show how federal funding can fuel recovery

Boston's new leader was 10 mayors elected this year who met with Biden administration officials.

Michelle Wu wants Bostonians to chat on the T — but MBTA riders aren’t having it

Wu, a frequent MBTA rider, made the appeal during an interview with Politico after being asked whether people chat with her when she commutes.

Worlds apart politically, Baker and Wu begin to forge relationship

The future of the city that is New England’s economic engine rests on the relationship between the Boston mayor and the Massachusetts governor. So far, there isn’t much of one: Aides say Baker and Wu don’t know each other well.

Organizers seek up to $25,000 from donors to fund Mayor Wu’s inauguration

Boston Inaugural Fund 2021, responsible for raising cash for Mayor Michelle Wu’s inauguration, has been asking donors for $10,000 to $25,000, promising them different tiers for “sponsorship opportunities” for the inauguration, set for Jan. 3, according to correspondence obtained by the Globe.
Shirley Leung

‘New, first, different.’ Skeptics are already whispering about Michelle Wu

Her political honeymoon as mayor almost certainly will be short because as a woman of color, Wu is up against a double standard that white male mayors never had to contend with.