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Michelle Wu (Chinese: 吳弭; pinyin: Wú Mǐ; born January 14, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, since 2021.
The daughter of Taiwanese American immigrants, Wu earned her bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor from Harvard University. She was the first Asian American woman to serve on the Boston City Council, from 2014 to 2021, and acted as its president from 2016–2018. She is the first woman and first person of color to have been elected mayor of Boston. At 36 years of age, she was also the youngest individual to have been elected to the position in nearly a century. Wu
Michelle Wu (Chinese: 吳弭; pinyin: Wú Mǐ; born January 14, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, since 2021.
The daughter of Taiwanese American immigrants, Wu earned her bachelor's degree and Juris Doctor from Harvard University. She was the first Asian American woman to serve on the Boston City Council, from 2014 to 2021, and acted as its president from 2016–2018. She is the first woman and first person of color to have been elected mayor of Boston. At 36 years of age, she was also the youngest individual to have been elected to the position in nearly a century. Wu is a member of the Democratic Party.
While on the Boston City Council, Wu authored several ordinances that were enacted. This included an ordinance to prevent the city from contracting with health insurers that discriminate in their coverage against transgender individuals. She also authored ordinances to have the city protect wetlands, support adaption to climate change, enact a plastic bag ban, adopt Community Choice Aggregation, and provide paid parental leave to municipal employees. As a city councilor, Wu also partook in a successful effort to adopt regulations on short-term rentals.
During her mayoralty, Wu has advocated for a municipal "Green New Deal" (the Boston Green New Deal) and signed an ordinance to divest city investments from companies that derive more than 15 percent of their revenue from fossil fuels, tobacco products, or prison facilities. She also has announced plans for the city to spend $2 billion on school construction projects as part of a "Green New Deal" for the city's public schools. As mayor, she has also taken actions related to increasing affordable housing in the city and taken actions related to the city's COVID-19 policies. A supporter of fare-free public transportation, Wu has funded a pilot program of fare-free service on three MBTA bus routes, expanding on a single-route pilot program that had previously been started under Kim Janey's preceding acting mayoralty. She also reached a contract agreement with the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association that secured the union's agreement to significant reforms within the Boston Police Department.
Wu is considered a political progressive and a protégé of Elizabeth Warren. Warren was one of Wu's professors in law school, and Wu worked on Warren's 2012 United States Senate campaign.
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