Mayor Michelle Wu won Boston’s municipal primary election by a landslide, but a closer look at vote counts shows her support noticeably lower in some neighborhoods.
Boston held its primary on September. 9, with the foremost contenders being incumbent Wu and Josh Kraft, a private citizen known for his philanthropic efforts as President of the New England Patriots Foundation.
Wu took home a decisive victory, earning 72% of the votes and prompting Kraft, who garnered 23%, to drop out of the race.
That final percentage, though, is just her aggregate support citywide. A closer look at how she performed in individual wards and precincts shows where her policies have garnered her strongest support and where they may be costing her votes.
Her support in downtown neighborhoods varied widely, with the strongest showing from Chinatown’s Precinct 8 at 76% of the vote. The West End also supported Wu more than the citywide average, with its Precinct 5 coming in at 73% support.
The North End was much more skeptical, still giving her a wide margin of victory but with her overall vote share dropping to roughly 64%. In the easternmost Precinct 1 that dropped as low as 61%.
Government Center and the Financial District settled near the citywide average, giving her 71% of their votes. That starts to dip again as you reach the South End, however, with Ward 3’s southernmost Precinct 7 giving Wu 68% of their votes.
Beacon Hill was sharply divided, with different precincts in the area simultaneously sending Wu her highest and lowest support levels in the downtown. Precinct 5, the residences closest to the Back Bay, gave her just 61% of their votes. A few streets away to the northeast, voters gave her their strongest endorsement yet at 78%.
The downward support gradient continues into the Back Bay, which overall gave her just 64% of their votes. That was lowest bordering the Boston Common, where Precinct 6 sent just 59% of their votes her way.
That skepticism does ease as you look south, increasing slightly with each Back Bay precinct until it reaches 70% again at the Charlesgate.
None of these areas, however, had any competitor even getting close to Wu’s vote share, with Kraft topping out among the mentioned precincts at just over half of Wu’s count around the northern tip of the Back Bay.
In a press conference the day after the primary, Wu admitted that there was still work to be done, mentioning improved public safety as one area for growth, but focused more on thanking supporters, addressing federal interference in Boston business and saying her victory was proof that Boston wins “can’t be bought.”
“You already can’t fake it in Boston in any situation, but especially when you’re a sitting elected official,” she said. “People aren’t just listening to talk and words. They understand what the track record has been, what has happened over four years, and what your actions have proven and shown. The best way to campaign for political office is to do a good job.”
Kraft, meanwhile, announced he was dropping out of the race in a September 12 interview with WCVB’s Newscenter 5. He said he’d take the funds that would’ve been used in the general election and put them toward solving problems around Mass and Cass.
“I got into this to make an impact, as I've done my whole life, build a sense of community to make change for the greater good," he said. "When I kept looking at the next eight weeks, the negativity, and all that it was going to be about. I realized, wow, I can do more. I can make a better impact for the residents of the City of Boston."
