THE JOB OF mayor often comes with bright lights, with the city as the stage. 

That’s confirmed by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s schedule – which in one day may include a coffee hour with constituents in South Boston, a GBH studio appearance in Back Bay and a Battle of Bunker Hill remembrance in Charlestown. Exposure like that is a big advantage for any elected official seeking another term, as she is attempting to fend off a challenge from nonprofit executive Josh Kraft. (CommonWealth Beacon has reached out to the Kraft campaign to invite him on The Codcast.) 

But Wu is also a self-described introvert. She didn’t get into the grip-and-grin tumult that defines city politics until after she arrived in the Boston area for college more than 20 years ago. She ran for City Council in 2013, and once in office, built towards a run for mayor. 

In that first campaign trail for her as a candidate, she ended up losing her voice by election day in 2013. “It was because in that year I probably had spoken more words than in all of the other years of my life combined, just campaigning and going around,” she said during a recently taped interview on The Codcast. 

“I definitely have had to really learn how to feel more comfortable doing public speaking, seem more comfortable doing public speaking, but a lot of it is practice,” she said. “And a lot of it is just feeling really excited about others, say, in the neighborhoods and in the people that I get to meet on a day-to-day basis.” 

Wu also discussed why she enrolled as a Democrat, and how she interprets recent polling showing that while New England voters are unhappy with the Trump administration, they’re even more upset with Democrats.  

“It’s not about a particular party or affiliation, but it’s things aren’t great right now, and there are reminders of that all around every single day … and we all need a reason to have hope,” she said. “We all need proof that forward momentum is still possible. And I think city government has a really key role to play in that, because this is still the level of government where you can get things done, where people can still come together across differences.” 

During the episode, Wu also talked about her first politically-tinged event (4:15), whether super PACs should exist (23:30), and her media diet (30:40).