The race for mayor of Boston features two progressive Democrats running against each other.
One grew up in Boston. The other grew up in Chicago.
Should it matter where they’re from, or should the candidates let their ideas speak for themselves?
At-large city councilor Annissa Essaibi George thinks the fact that she grew up in Boston and her opponent, fellow at-large city councilor Michelle Wu, didn’t, is relevant in the race.
“It’s relevant to me, and I think it’s relevant to a lot of voters whether or not they’re born and raised in the city,” Assaibi George said.
Wu promptly responded to the criticism on Twitter.
Wu wrote “Reminder: The Mayor of Boston needs to lead for ALL of us. I’m ready to fight for every resident—whether you’ve been here since birth or chose to make Boston your home along the way.”
District 5 city councilor Ricardo Arroyo also condemned what Essaibi George said via Twitter.
“I love Boston, so do my parents who weren’t born here & have given much of their lives in service too it, one as a teacher the other as a public official,” Arroyo wrote. “Pushing rhetoric that someone born here, like me, somehow has more standing to run our city than them is ‘othering’ & wrong.”
Essaibi George downplayed the criticism of her words after the interview.
“I think it was something to just talk about on Twitter. It’s a silly thing,” Essaibi George told NBC 10 Boston.
Wu is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. While she grew up in Chicago, she has lived in Boston full-time since 2009. She also lived in Boston from 2003 to 2007 while getting her bachelor’s degree at Harvard University, as NBC 10 Boston points out.
Whichever candidate wins the November 2 general election will be the first elected woman mayor of Boston. Wu would be the first Asian-American woman and the first racial minority elected. Essaibi George identifies as a racial minority, but her ethnic background (half Polish and half Tunisian) was considered white by the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau.
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