Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on Sunday told the Boston Globe that City Councilor Michelle Wu was planning to run for mayor next year, prompting some to criticize him for stealing Wu's thunder ahead of her own announcement.
According to the Globe, Walsh told the paper that Wu told him she planned to run during a courtesy call.
Here's what we know about Wu's potential campaign and how it was revealed:
What's Wu's camp saying?
In a statement, Wu spokeswoman Jessicah Pierre did not deny or confirm the news.
“Councilor Wu believes that in this moment of hardship in our city, each one of us should be asking ourselves how we can make a difference in strengthening our communities and fighting for change that matches the scale and urgency of our current challenges,” Pierre said.
For her part, Wu poked fun at the situation in a tweet Sunday featuring her family.
Twitter reacts
Following the Globe report, commentators and observers took to Twitter to question whether or not Walsh should have confirmed the news to the paper. Some characterized the move as stealing Wu's thunder.
What would Wu's candidacy mean for Boston?
Although Walsh has not officially declared a reelection campaign, the potential match-up would pit a popular incumbent against Wu, who in 2016 became the first woman of color to be City Council president. Wu is currently an at-large councilor.
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Wu resides in Roslindale, and has served on the city council since 2013. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and focuses many of her legislative efforts on racial and class equality.
The 35-year-old spent more than $40,000 on campaign-related expenses in August, according to the Boston Herald. Weeks ago, she released a 49-page report detailing how to combat climate change and the problems that intersect with it by bringing the Green New Deal to Boston.
Walsh has served as Boston's mayor since 2014. Both he and Wu are Democrats.
Wu has been a critic of the MBTA's fee hikes, saying such moves are punishing those who are reducing the traffic burden. She has gone as far as saying that public transportation should be free.
She has also criticized Walsh in recent months over the city's Boston Resiliency Fund, meant to assist those hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, saying such money should go directly to non-profit organizations, not be filtered through the city. She has also criticized the administration's Racial Equity Fund, saying in an Op-Ed in the Globe that it falls short of addressing systemic racism.
