Competitive mayoral races abound, just not in Boston
November 5, 2025
The rough-and-tumble of big city politics is a well-worn cliche. But when it comes to Massachusetts mayoral contests, it seems worn out.
In a race that held all the suspense of a 1970s-era Soviet election, Michelle Wu was returned to office for a second term yesterday in an election where she was the only name on Boston’s mayoral ballot. It followed a September preliminary contest that looked more like a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition, with Wu running circles around Josh Kraft, who seemed less threatening challenger than hapless foil, against whom she could run up the score.
For the real bare-knuckle action in mayoral contests these days, you need to look outside the state’s capital city, where incumbents don’t just often face serious challenges, but lose with some regularity. The odds certainly heavily favor incumbent officeholders, but more than a dozen Massachusetts mayors have lost their seats over the last decade.
Yesterday, it was in Everett and Gloucester that voters chose change.
Published by MassINC