Michelle Wu

Michelle Wu
Wu in 2024
Michelle Wu
Born	14 1, 1985
Birthplace	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, lawyer
Known for	54th Mayor of Boston; first woman and first person of color elected mayor of Boston
Education	Harvard University (BA, JD)
Children	3

Michelle Wu (Template:Zh; born January 14, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 54th Mayor of Boston since November 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Wu is the first woman and the first person of color to be elected to the position, and at age 36, she was the youngest person elected mayor of the city in nearly a century. The daughter of Taiwanese American immigrants, Wu rose through Boston politics as a city councillor, serving from 2014 to 2021 and becoming the first Asian-American woman on the Boston City Council. She served as president of the council from 2016 to 2018. As mayor, Wu has pursued an ambitious policy agenda focused on climate change, public transportation, housing, and police reform, and she was re-elected to a second term in November 2025.

Early Life

Michelle Wu was born on January 14, 1985, in Chicago, Illinois, to parents who had immigrated to the United States from Taiwan. She grew up in a family shaped by the immigrant experience, with her parents working to establish themselves in the United States. Wu has spoken publicly about the significant personal challenges she faced as a young adult, including taking on a caregiving role within her family. These experiences informed her later approach to public policy, particularly around issues of family support and municipal services.

Wu's upbringing in Chicago provided her with formative experiences in a major American city, exposing her to the dynamics of urban life and governance that would later define her political career. Her family background as the child of Taiwanese immigrants placed her within a growing Asian-American community that was increasingly seeking representation in American civic life.

Wu was recognized for her academic achievements early in her education. In 2003, she was named a Presidential Scholar, one of a select group of high school seniors honored annually by the United States Department of Education for their academic excellence and contributions.

Education

Wu attended Harvard University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors. She subsequently enrolled at Harvard Law School, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree. During her time at Harvard Law School, Wu studied under Elizabeth Warren, who was then a professor at the law school before her own entry into electoral politics as a United States Senator from Massachusetts. Wu's legal education provided her with a foundation in policy analysis and governance that she would later apply in her work on the Boston City Council and as mayor.

Her experiences at Harvard, both as an undergraduate and a law student, connected her to the broader Boston community and laid the groundwork for her decision to pursue a career in public service in the city. Following her legal education, Wu became involved in civic work and political organizing in Boston.

Career

Boston City Council

Wu first ran for the Boston City Council in 2013, seeking one of the four at-large council seats. Her candidacy was part of a broader wave of new candidates entering Boston politics that year. During the campaign, Wu articulated a vision for modernizing city government and improving municipal services, drawing on her legal training and personal experiences.

In the November 2013 election, Wu won her race and became one of the top vote-getters among at-large candidates. Her election was notable as she became the first Asian-American woman to serve on the Boston City Council. The 2013 election was also significant for the strong performance of women candidates in the at-large race overall.

Wu took office in January 2014 and quickly began working on policy initiatives. Early in her tenure, she pushed for reforms to ease the city's permitting and licensing processes, seeking to reduce bureaucratic obstacles for residents and small businesses.

Wu was re-elected to the council in 2015 and again in 2017. In January 2016, she was elected president of the Boston City Council, succeeding Bill Linehan in the role. She served as council president until January 2018, when she was succeeded by Andrea Campbell.

Legislative Work

During her time on the city council, Wu authored several ordinances that were enacted into law. Among the most notable was an ordinance to prevent the city of Boston from contracting with health insurers that discriminated in their coverage against transgender people. She also authored ordinances related to environmental protection and sustainability, including measures to protect wetlands, support adaptation to climate change, enact a plastic bag ban, and adopt Community Choice Aggregation. Additionally, Wu authored an ordinance to provide paid parental leave to municipal employees.

Wu was also a central figure in the effort to regulate short-term rental platforms in Boston, a contentious issue that pitted her against the company Airbnb. The short-term rental industry targeted Wu with opposition efforts, including advertising campaigns, as she led the push for regulations. The effort escalated into a protracted public battle, with Airbnb and its supporters challenging the proposed regulations while Wu and housing advocates argued that unregulated short-term rentals were reducing the city's housing stock and driving up rents. Wu and her allies ultimately succeeded in having regulations on short-term rentals adopted.

Mayoral Campaign (2021)

Wu entered the 2021 Boston mayoral race, campaigning on a progressive platform that emphasized climate action, fare-free public transportation, housing affordability, and reforms to city government. The race took place against the backdrop of significant political change in Boston, as longtime Mayor Marty Walsh departed to serve as United States Secretary of Labor under President Joe Biden, and City Council President Kim Janey became acting mayor.

In the November 2021 general election, Wu won a decisive victory, becoming the first woman and the first person of color to be elected mayor of Boston. At 36 years old, she was also the youngest person elected to the position in nearly a century. She took office on November 16, 2021, succeeding acting mayor Kim Janey.

Mayoralty

Climate and Environmental Policy

As mayor, Wu has made climate change a central focus of her administration. She launched a municipal "Green New Deal," formally known as the Boston Green New Deal, aimed at addressing climate change through a comprehensive set of local policies. Wu signed an ordinance to divest city investments from companies that derive more than 15 percent of their revenue from fossil fuels, tobacco products, or prison facilities, linking environmental, public health, and social justice concerns in a single financial policy.

Public Transportation

A longstanding advocate of fare-free public transportation, Wu as mayor funded a pilot program of fare-free service on three Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) bus routes. This program expanded upon a single-route pilot that had been initiated under acting mayor Kim Janey's preceding administration. The fare-free bus initiative was designed to reduce transportation costs for Boston residents, particularly in lower-income communities, and to encourage public transit use as part of the city's broader climate strategy.

Police Reform and Public Safety

Wu used contract negotiations with the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association to secure significant reforms related to police accountability. The reforms represented a notable achievement in the context of national debates over policing, as they were accomplished through the collective bargaining process rather than through unilateral executive action or contentious legislative battles. The success of the negotiations was underscored when the police union subsequently endorsed Wu for re-election—the first time the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association had endorsed a mayor's re-election in more than three decades.

During Wu's first term, Boston experienced a substantial reduction in gun violence and murders, with the city recording multiple record-low years for violent crime. These public safety improvements became a prominent element of her administration's record.

Housing

Wu's administration has pursued housing affordability as a key policy priority, including the implementation of inclusionary zoning requirements for new development. These requirements, which mandate that a percentage of new housing units be designated as affordable, have been a subject of ongoing policy debate. In February 2026, Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn called on Wu to roll back some of the affordability requirements, arguing that they were stalling new development in the city.

Participatory Budgeting

Wu's administration has implemented participatory budgeting programs, allowing Boston residents to directly decide how portions of city tax revenue are spent. In February 2026, Wu announced the winning proposals from a participatory budgeting cycle in which residents allocated $2.2 million in city funds to community-selected projects.

Opposition to the Trump Administration

Wu emerged as a prominent opponent of the second Trump administration. The Trump administration targeted Boston over the Boston Trust Act, a local policy related to the city's approach to immigration enforcement. Wu's public opposition to federal immigration enforcement policies placed her among a group of Democratic mayors who clashed with the Trump administration over urban policy and immigration.

Re-election (2025)

Wu was re-elected to a second mayoral term in November 2025, securing continued support from voters. Her re-election campaign received the endorsement of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, a notable development given the union's historically adversarial relationship with the mayor's office.

Political Endorsements

In February 2026, Wu endorsed U.S. Senator Ed Markey in his primary race for re-election, citing their partnership on issues including climate change and health care.

Personal Life

Wu resides in Boston with her family. She has three children. Her personal experiences as a parent and caregiver have been cited as influences on her policy priorities, including her advocacy for paid parental leave and family support services. Wu has spoken publicly about the challenges of balancing public service with family responsibilities, a theme that has resonated in broader conversations about representation in government.

Wu's marriage proposal was featured in a New York Times article about memorable wedding proposals published in December 2012.

Recognition

Wu has received recognition from several organizations for her public service and political work. She was identified by the abortion rights organization EMILY's List as a finalist for one of its awards in 2018, reflecting her profile as a woman in Democratic politics.

In 2018, Boston Magazine included Wu on its list of the most influential people in Boston, recognizing her impact on city policy and politics during her tenure on the city council.

Wu is an alumna of Emerge America, an organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. Her election as mayor of Boston in 2021 was a historic milestone, as she became the first woman and the first person of color elected to lead the city in its nearly 400-year history. Her election was covered extensively by national and international media as part of broader trends in American political representation.

Her profile in The Atlantic in 2019 characterized her as a figure who was reshaping the political culture of a city long defined by its traditional power structures.

Legacy

Wu's election and tenure as mayor of Boston have been situated within the broader context of increasing diversity in American political leadership. As the first woman and first person of color elected mayor of Boston, her rise to the city's highest office marked a departure from the historical pattern of the mayoralty being held exclusively by white men. Her election was part of a national wave of women and people of color winning executive positions in major American cities during the early 2020s.

Her policy record on the city council and as mayor has contributed to debates about urban governance, particularly regarding climate change, public transportation, housing affordability, and police reform. The Boston Green New Deal represented one of the more comprehensive local government responses to climate change adopted by a major American city. Her success in using collective bargaining to achieve police accountability reforms offered a model that differed from the legislative and executive approaches pursued in other cities.

Wu's advocacy for fare-free public transit influenced discussions about the role of public transportation funding in addressing economic inequality and climate change at the municipal level. Her work on short-term rental regulation, conducted in the face of significant corporate opposition, contributed to a national conversation about the impact of platforms like Airbnb on urban housing markets.

As a Taiwanese American woman in a city historically defined by its Irish and Italian American political traditions, Wu's career has also been noted as reflective of demographic and cultural shifts in Boston's population and political landscape.