Boston has elected its first woman mayor. Michelle Wu, 36, will not only be the first woman to serve in the city's top office, but also the first person of color. She defeated fellow Democrat Annissa Essaibi George, 47, on Tuesday. "We are ready to meet this moment. We are ready to become a Boston for everyone. We're ready to be a Boston that doesn't push people out, but welcomes all who call our city home," Wu said during an election night speech to supporters. Wu, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, broke Boston's 200-year pattern of only electing white men for the job. Boston's acting mayor, Kim Janey, became Boston's first black female mayor in March after Marty Walsh resigned to serve as President Joe Biden's labor secretary. Throughout the campaign Wu proposed policies designed to tackle the city's racial wealth gap and climate change including rent stabilization, free public transit and a "city-level Green New Deal agenda" that would invest in clean energy sources and plant more trees, among other initiatives. Wu is familiar with breaking glass ceilings. In 2013, when she was first elected to Boston's city council, she was the first Asian-American woman to serve as city councilman and from 2016 to January 2018 she served as the council's first woman of color president. The Chicago native told CNBC Make It in an interview last year that she never thought she would have a career in politics growing up. "I'm the daughter of immigrants and my parents came to this country with nothing in their pockets and not speaking English and all of us kids were supposed to grow up and just get a stable job that kept us out of trouble," she said. "So, that was what I was always aiming for." That all changed, however, when she was working her first job as a consultant in Boston after graduating from Harvard. "I had just graduated [college] and I was working downtown in Boston and I got a call from my sister one day that said I had to go home right then and there and that something was very wrong and they needed help at home," she recalled. Wu explained that her mother was struggling with a very serious mental illness at that time. "In the depths of her mental health crisis, I was 22 or 23 years old and had to start raising my sisters and become the caregiver for my mom as well," Wu said, adding that her two sisters are six and 12 years younger than her. "So, in that moment, I went from being someone who had been actively pushed away from ever thinking about politics and government to then having to deal with the structures and systems of the government over and over again in our daily lives and in our struggles against it— whether it was trying to care for my sisters and get them into the right school placements or get my mom health care for her situation." Wu, who eventually moved her mom and sisters with her to Boston, attended Harvard Law School. She was introduced to the world of politics when her then-law school professor Elizabeth Warren ran for Senate in 2012. "By my third year of law school, [Warren] was running for the United States Senate," Wu said. "And, I just showed up to office hours and asked how I could help. I was put to work knocking on doors and making phone calls and organizing in Boston." Warren called Wu "family" and congratulated the mother of two young boys on her historic win in a statement on Twitter. "From teaching her in law school, to working together on my first Senate run, to supporting her campaigns, I've seen her positive energy, her good heart, and her ability to make big change for Boston," Warren wrote. "She will be a terrific mayor." Government leaders throughout Massachusetts including Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Gov. Charlie Baker also sent Wu celebratory messages. George, Wu's contender in the race, applauded Wu' historic win in her concession speech Tuesday night. "She is the first woman, first person of color, and as an Asian American, the first elected to be mayor of Boston," she said. "I know this is no small feat." In her victory speech, Wu mentioned that one of her sons asked her if "sons can be elected mayor of Boston." "They have been, and they will someday again, but not tonight," she said. "On this day, Boston elected your mom because from every corner of our city, Boston has spoken." She continued: "I want to be clear — it wasn't my vision on the ballot. It was ours, together … Although we've put in a lot of work to get to this day, our movement does not end here. We have a lot of work to do, so let's dig in." Check out: Meet Michelle Wu, Boston's first Asian-American councilwoman, who is now running for mayor Nearly 2 in 3 women who left the workforce during Covid plan to return—and most want to enter this field For the first time, 30% of all S&P 500 board directors are women Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter More Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a former city councilor and daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, made history Tuesday when she took the oath of office, becoming the first woman, the first Asian American and first person of color elected and sworn into the city's highest post. Surrounded by family members as well as prominent state and local politicians, Wu pledged to immediately go to work. "We have so much work to do, and it will take all of us to get it done," said Wu, shortly after being sworn in.
 In brief remarks in the City Council chambers, Wu repeated a central theme of her campaign: a promise to deliver generational change — while also filling potholes and keeping the street lights on. "Not only is it possible for Boston to deliver city services and generational change, it is absolutely necessary in this moment," Wu said. Wu also said the city needs to chart a new course for families today and generations to come. “After all, Boston was founded on a revolutionary promise: that things don’t have to be as they always have been," Wu said. At 36, Wu is also the city's first millennial mayor and one of the youngest people to run a major city in the United States. Wu succeeds Kim Janey, who stepped in as acting mayor after Marty Walsh became U.S. Secretary of Labor in March. Janey made history in her own right as the city's first woman and person of color to lead City Hall. Janey unsuccessfully campaigned for a full term as mayor and endorsed Wu after being eliminated in the preliminary election.
On Tuesday, Janey saluted her one-time rival. "I'm confident that you will lead our city with integrity and that you will center equity in all that you do," Janey said. "I know that Boston is in good hands, and I am so glad to call you, 'Madame Mayor." Before becoming mayor, Wu served as an at-large city councilor for eight years, including two when she also held the title of city council president. A number of other prominent leaders attended the ceremonies, including Gov. Charlie Baker, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
Wu had just two weeks — instead of the usual two months — to prepare for the job since she defeated councilor Annissa Essaibi George earlier this month. That's because of the special rules in the charter when a mayor leaves office early, as Walsh did when he joined the Biden administration. So Wu is still putting together her team. On Tuesday, Wu announced a number of key appointments, including Mary Lou Akai-Ferguson, who ran her campaign and will now serve as interim Chief of Staff. Wu said the big challenge is to hire the rest of her team while addressing pressing problems facing the city, including the approaching winter, needs in the public school system and cluster of addiction and homelessness around Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. Beyond the day-to-day challenge of running the city, Wu must also begin to make good on her campaign promises. Wu ran on a sweeping progressive agenda, promising free public transportation, universal pre-k and a Green New Deal for Boston, which not only includes more trees and electric school buses, but also initiatives to attack poverty and close the racial wealth gap. Sen. Ed Markey, who co-sponsored a federal Green New Deal, and who attended Tuesday's swearing-in, said he believes Wu will bring historic change to Boston. "This is going to be the Green New Deal City for the United States and the whole world," Markey declared. "It's going to be the model. And she is going to be the leader who shows that you can have prosperity and environmental justice at the same time." Of course, Wu will no doubt face pushback as she tries to implement her progressive agenda. But Tuesday was about Boston turning a page and installing a new Mayor — a leader who represents a new generation and a new vision for the city.
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