Photo: WBZ NewsRadio/MikeMacklin
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The clock is ticking for hopeful mayoral candidates to submit their statements of candidacy with the election department.
As we quickly approach the May 13th deadline, endorsements have already started to trickle in for Incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu, who announced she will run for reelection even though she hasn’t formally launched her campaign yet.
Service Employees International Union groups, representing 135,000 Massachusetts workers, welcomed Mrs. Wu to their union hall downtown over the weekend with enthusiastic chants of "four more years."
More than one hundred union leaders and members gathered to announce their joint endorsement of the Harvard Law School graduate.
“She stood with working people consistently over the past four years. She stands up for immigrants. She stands up for healthcare workers. She stands up for all of us together, and we’re with her cause she’s with us,” said SEIU leadership.
Mayor Wu, daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, recently joined the mayors of Chicago, Denver, and New York in Washington, D.C., to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at a hearing over their cities' sanctuary city policies.
Joshua Kraft, son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who launched his mayoral campaign against Mayor Wu in February, complimented her testimony on Capitol Hill but not without a harsh critique of the preparation cost for her appearance.
“In a time when the city is, you know, has some fiscal challenges, I think being more conscious and cost-effective with preparation, and not spending $650,000 is definitely something we would have done,” said Kraft.
The municipal election will take place on Nov. 4.
WBZ NewsRadio's Mike Macklin reports.