Asian Americans In Boston Are 'Pinching Themselves' After Michelle Wu's Historic Win

Mayor-elect Michelle Wu became the first woman, person of color and Asian American to be elected mayor of Boston on Tuesday night, ending a 199-year streak of white, male mayors in the city.

Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung joined Boston Public Radio to share what Wu’s mayoral victory means to Asian Americans in Boston and beyond.

“[Mayor-elect Wu] won in every part of the city, and in doing so, it shows that Boston accepts Asian Americans — that even though she was not born in Boston or raised in Boston, she is a Bostonian,” Leung said. “And she won the right — deserves the right — to be our mayor.”

Wu, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, grew up outside of Chicago and moved to the Boston area to attend Harvard.

“When I talk to Asian Americans in the community, they’re pinching themselves that we have an Asian American mayor now,” Leung added, pointing to her recent Boston Globe piece on Mayor-elect Wu’s historic win.

Asian American candidates also won in several other major elections across the country. Lawyer Aftab Pureval, who is half-Indian and half-Tibetan, became the first Asian American elected mayor of Cincinnati, beating city councilor, former mayor and former Congressman David Mann. In Seattle, former City Council President Bruce Harrell won against current City Council President M. Lorena González. Harrell is the first Asian American and second Black mayor of Seattle.

“This is really important, because it shows you how representation matters,” Leung said. “It shows you that the younger generation of Asian Americans need role models. There’s teenagers — here in Boston, in Massachusetts, around the country — waking up and saying, ‘You know, I can be mayor someday.’”

Leung is a business columnist for the Boston Globe.