Your weekly look at politics, policy and elections in Massachusetts
9/9/20--The primary election is over in Massachusetts, and that usually means most of the drama has come to a close, as the most competitive races are done. But on Monday, an announcement from an unlikely source arose regarding a certain 2021 competition.
The Boston Globe reported Boston Mayor Marty Walsh saying City Councilor Michelle Wu called him to let him know she would be running for Mayor in the 2021 election. Wu herself has not yet confirmed, but Boston may very well be in for a busy election season. When Stephanie Murray spoke to City Councilor Julia Mejia about the news, Mejia predicted 5-6 mayoral candidates and 20 at-large candidates.
While we're still waiting on confirmation from Wu, Jennifer Smith points to her past two runs for City Council wherein she came out in the top two--indicating strong support from Boston voters. On the other hand, it's been more than 70 years since a mayor of Boston was ousted. As with Wu's run, there hasn't been confirmation that Mayor Walsh will run for re-election, the battle for Wu will be uphill.
And speaking of uphill battles, the MassGOP has its sights set on a few Congressional Districts in Massachusetts that they think may be vulnerable to swing Republican in the upcoming general election. Stephanie Murray says the MassGOP is eyeing the Massachusetts 4th and 9th districts, hoping the Democratic nominee Jake Auchincloss will fall to Julie Hall. Hall is attempting to paint Auchincloss as a socialist, though that message may have limited sticking power as Auchincloss was the moderate option among his progressive opponents for MA04. The Massachusetts 9th, which has a reputation of leaning the farthest right of all the state's congressional districts, will feature Republican Helen Brady facing off against incumbent Bill Keating.
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