2021 Boston Mayoral Election Megathread

[pikachu]

I haven’t seen much discussion about this election, but could someone give a quick tl;dr on what’s deal with it? Big issues? (I assume housing because superstar city gonna superstar city, but what’s the discourse about it in Boston? Doesn’t feel like it gets as much attention as other cities.) What are the candidates’ coalitions? Are either of them future prospects for MA-GOV/SEN or are they running to be mayor for life? Is being mayor even that great or is it like NYC when the gov just bullies you all day? Very curious about one.

[pikachu]

I haven’t seen much discussion about this election, but could someone give a quick tl;dr on what’s deal with it? Big issues? (I assume housing because superstar city gonna superstar city, but what’s the discourse about it in Boston? Doesn’t feel like it gets as much attention as other cities.) What are the candidates’ coalitions? Are either of them future prospects for MA-GOV/SEN or are they running to be mayor for life? Is being mayor even that great or is it like NYC when the gov just bullies you all day? Very curious about one.

Doesn't seem to be much discussion of the race on AAD either, outside of a handful of Tweets. Wu has been endorsed by both the current mayor and Ayanna Pressley.

https://twitter.com/hjessy_/status/1448252763616522240
Wu does relatively better with Asian voters and Latino voters- her coalition seems more concerned with housing and public transit. By contrast, AEG seems to have the advantage on crime/law-and-order. This checks out with that 538 podcast on the race I listened to last month.

Interesting - seems like crime would be a less salient issue in Boston than maybe in other cities, so it'd make sense that a law-and-order campaign might be less effective there. Would be interesting to see Asians/Latinos go for the progressive-coded candidate in the race, but then again, I don't know much about the demographic profiles of either group in Boston.

[pikachu]

I haven’t seen much discussion about this election, but could someone give a quick tl;dr on what’s deal with it? Big issues? (I assume housing because superstar city gonna superstar city, but what’s the discourse about it in Boston? Doesn’t feel like it gets as much attention as other cities.) What are the candidates’ coalitions? Are either of them future prospects for MA-GOV/SEN or are they running to be mayor for life? Is being mayor even that great or is it like NYC when the gov just bullies you all day? Very curious about one.

Doesn't seem to be much discussion of the race on AAD either, outside of a handful of Tweets. Wu has been endorsed by both the current mayor and Ayanna Pressley.

https://twitter.com/hjessy_/status/1448252763616522240
Wu does relatively better with Asian voters and Latino voters- her coalition seems more concerned with housing and public transit. By contrast, AEG seems to have the advantage on crime/law-and-order. This checks out with that 538 podcast on the race I listened to last month.

Interesting - seems like crime would be a less salient issue in Boston than maybe in other cities, so it'd make sense that a law-and-order campaign might be less effective there. Would be interesting to see Asians/Latinos go for the progressive-coded candidate in the race, but then again, I don't know much about the demographic profiles of either group in Boston.

Here's what I can glean from Statistical Atlas:

The Asians in Boston proper are mostly ethnic Chinese (49%/4.6%), with smaller numbers of Vietnamese (19%/1.8%) and Indians (14%/1.3%). Interestingly, the Cambodian proportion of the Asian population is much lower in Boston proper than Metro Boston as a whole. The Latinos are mostly Puerto Rican (28%/5.3%), Dominican (26%/4.9%), and Central American (22%/4.2%).

The Chinese seem to be concentrated around Chinatown (which has a relatively high median household income) and in the western lobe of Boston proper next to Cambridge[?]. The Vietnamese are concentrated in the more lower-income area south of downtown, around I-93 (east of where the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans are concentrated). The Indians are concentrated in the western lobe, although also in areas that have relatively low median incomes. The Central Americans are concentrated in the area east of the harbor.

There’s a massive Cambodian population in Lowell, which iirc is proportionately the largest in the US and the second-largest overall after Long Beach.