Mayor Michelle Wu Endorses Lydia Edwards for 1st Suffolk and Middlesex Senate Seat

In her first political endorsement since taking the oath of office as Mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu endorsed District 1 City Councilor Lydia Edward’s candidacy for the 1st Suffolk and Middlesex senate seat last Thursday at Belle Isle Marsh Reservation in East Boston.

Edwards is hoping to win the seat vacated by Sen. Joseph Boncore earlier this fall, which includes the North End, East Boston, Beacon Hill, Bay Village, Chinatown, parts of the South End, Revere, Winthrop and Cambridgeport. Edwards ran for the seat unsuccessfully in 2016 in a crowded field of seven candidates. This time around she will face Revere School Committee member Anthony D’Ambrosio during the Special Election Primary set for Tuesday, December 14.

“Not two days ago I stood on the rostrum on the City Council floor and took the oath of office before a community that represents the hope, the energy, the excitement for doing more in our city,” said Mayor Wu. “People are ready to take on big challenges and to do so in a way that truly brings everyone into the conversation. There is no better partner to do this work at the Statehouse than Lydia Edwards and to make sure that so much of what we’re fighting for in Boston and in the communities across this district line up with the urgency that our families are facing.”

Wu said while Edwards stood with her during her mayoral race her endorsement and support last week goes beyond just one campaign.

“We have been working together for years, taking on the challenges that people told us would be impossible to get done in Boston, and at the City Council,” said Wu. “When you’re in the room with Lydia, you see she will leave no stone unturned fighting for people who are not in those rooms, fighting to make sure that the stories that she has heard out in the community–whether as a legal advocate fighting for those who have been stripped of their workers rights, fighting for those who have been put in impossible situations and being a voice and a champion for everyone to have the safety, health, and economic well being that they deserve as well as housing justice and ensuring that we are fighting for a roof over people’s heads, housing stability and pathways to homeownership that each one of our families deserves.”

Wu concluded that Edwards is, “A friend, a confidant, and a true partner in this work. I need Lydia as our partner at the statehouse at this moment to make sure the charge from residents to get things done, to do it in a big way and to bring everyone into that work is happening across all levels of government.”

Of Wu, Edwards said, “We are sisters and colleagues. We get things done. So to have Mayor Wu’s endorsement today is the validation that a lot of people need to see. She’s the first woman to lead this city and for me to be her first endorsement and move her political will in my direction leaves me speechless. I’m so honored. We must lead. We must continue forward. We have to be at the table. We have to be in the Senate. We have to be in the rooms where things are happening and that’s why I’m running.”