Rep. Ayanna Pressley celebrated Michelle Wu's victory on Greater Boston Wednesday night — and warned that she won't tolerate Black and progressive leaders being blamed for Democrat Terry McAuliffe's loss in Virginia Tuesday.
With City Councilor Wu's victory, garnering 64% of the vote ahead of Annissa Essaibi George, Pressley said that Wu had received a clear mandate to move forward with her agenda.
"The voters sent a clear message that we find ourselves in an unprecedented moment as a country, as a Commonwealth and a city, and that they want a visionary leader who will tackle and confront our hardest challenges with boldness," Pressley said. "And I've known Michelle to be an innovator, to be disruptive in a sense that she does not take the status quo, usual response to things as acceptable."
When asked what Black voters should expect from a Wu mayoralty, Pressley said, "I'm of the Stacey Abrams school of thought that we don't elect saviors, we elect leaders and partners." She hammered home specific areas where she expects Wu to elevate Black Bostonians: supporting small businesses, homeownership, community health centers and contracting — in addition to appointing a diverse cabinet.
Pressley said that the Boston elections should chart a course for Democrats. Along with Wu's groundbreaking victory, she pointed out, Boston voters elected to the City Council the first Haitian-American, the first Muslim and the second Afro-Latina.
"The elections in Boston should be a bellwether for this Democratic Party of what is to come, if we learn the lessons and follow that blueprint," Pressley said. "This is a new dawn, this is a new day, and it is possible — when we organize for it and we do a politics of transformation, not transaction."
It is policies and budgets, she argued, that matter to the American people rather than "flowery statements which espouse our principles."
"The elections in Boston should be a bellwether for this Democratic Party of what is to come, if we learn the lessons and follow that blueprint."Ayanna Pressley
Pressley also had tough words for Democrats over the party's gubernatorial loss in Virginia on Tuesday. Democrat and former Governor McAuliffe lost to Republican Glenn Youngkin, 49% to 51%.
"What happened in Virginia is a consistent and hard lesson that Democrats are just going to have to to get through our thick skull, that ultimately the ultimate persuasion tool is impact and Democrats win when we deliver — and especially when we deliver to the base," she said.
Tying it back to the multitrillion-dollar infrastructure bill, Pressley reiterated that she and other members of the Black and progressive caucuses are holding out to try to also incorporate child care, paid parental leave, investments in housing and more into the agenda — policies, she said, that are "wildly popular" among Americans.
"I will not stand for the progressive flank or Black voters being blamed for that victory [in Virginia]," she said. "Democrats win when we deliver."
When pressed by host Braude on the feasibility of policies like paid leave when West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has vocalized his opposition, Pressley said that "too much oxygen" is devoted to the moderate senator who has often become the deciding vote in a Senate that is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans.
"Rather than our offering of punditry and analysis about his rationale, people should ask him why as a member of the Democratic Party, he is so keen on being an obstructionist of the president's agenda," she said.
Pressley ultimately made the case that Wu is exactly what Bostonians want right now.
"When Michelle said, 'Yes, we can do big things — and take care of potholes, too,'" Pressley went on, "I think that about sums it up. That that's what the city of Boston is looking for in this moment, and that's what Michelle Wu will do as mayor."
WATCH: Rep. Pressley on Greater Boston
