Mayor Michelle Wu officially launched her reelection campaign April 5, delivering a speech at the Cyclorama Building at South End.
In the speech, Wu reflected on being in the Cyclorama — the same site where she celebrated her first election to the office in 2021.
“In this space and for generations across our city, Boston has always been in the middle of the battle for freedom and for our future,” Wu said.
Wu emphasized the need for Boston to fight back against the Trump administration.
“Boston is being threatened by an administration that is threatened by who we are as a city,” she said. “We face serious challenges in this moment, and now is not the time for a mayor who needs on-the-job training.”
Wu also made note of the opposition she faces in the race.
“Now is certainly not the time to hand the keys over to billionaires or developers,” she said. “Boston doesn’t need a mayor who has to recuse themselves from conflict of interests. We need a mayor whose only interest is Boston.”
Boston University senior Paul Birmingham said he appreciates Wu “keeping Boston an island of sanity.”
Birmingham said Boston is the “political capital of Massachusetts,” offering opportunities for a viable candidate.
“Boston or Massachusetts’ politics is a great springboard for national people,” he said. “There’s a lot of potential around here for a good candidate.”
The mayor additionally reiterated her administration’s environmental goals.
“Four years ago, we had to fight for every inch of progress on climate action,” she said. “Starting this summer, all new big buildings in Boston will be net-zero from day one.”
Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata wrote in a statement to The Daily Free Press that she supports Wu for her environmental initiatives.
“Wu has been a steadfast leader in protecting our waterfront communities from the devastating impacts of climate change,” Zapata wrote.
Zapata wrote she appreciated Wu’s support for “resilient infrastructure, coastal protections, and environmental justice” and hopes to continue working with Wu on future environmental initiatives.
Massachusetts State Rep. John Moran wrote in a statement to the Daily Free Press he is proud to support Wu’s reelection campaign specifically due to her support of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Especially in these times, it is crucial that we have elected leaders who consistently lift up marginalized communities,” Moran wrote.
Creating affordable housing is also a continuing theme in Wu’s campaign, but some residents still lament the city’s housing crisis.
BU junior Clemente Nicado Yelmene said “getting more housing support” should be an issue of utmost importance for the city.
Leadottie McBride, who works at BU’s Catering on the Charles, lived in Roxbury for the past two years and said the “threat of gentrification and rents going up” has been a persistent problem in Roxbury.
“There was a building across from us that used to be a very, very affordable building, but they completely renovated everything, and students were living in those buildings,” she said. “They were intentionally trying to move everybody out, to redo the building, to raise the rent.”
Wu’s campaign also runs on addressing homelessness, as it is a continuing problem in Boston. In 2024, Boston Indicators estimated that more than 21,000 Bostonians were unhoused.
In an email statement, a spokesperson from Mass Struggle, a Communist organization, wrote they condemned Wu’s advancement of the ban on tents directed at homeless encampments in 2023.
“The stark contradiction between the Wu administration’s alleged commitment to ‘social justice’ and her ruthless deployment of the BPD against unhoused encampments is dizzying,” they wrote.
The Mass Struggle spokesperson wrote that the continued prevalence of Boston’s unhoused population is a “blight on the ‘progressive’ and ‘inclusive’ self-image of Boston advanced by Wu and her allies.”
Recent polling done by Emerson College shows a broad lead for Wu over Kraft. 43% of Boston voters support Wu while 29% support Kraft; the remaining 24% are undecided.
Towards the end of the speech, Wu said she expects more challenges in the future.
“Over the next four years, it will get harder before it gets easier for our families,” she said. “We need every voice in this fight.”
