In Boston, there was no such shakeup. Wu won comfortably, unofficial election results showed.
“Thank you for the honor of your trust. Thank you for the honor of my lifetime,” Wu said at an election celebration at Grace by Nia in the Seaport.
Her speech started with the deeply local — the accomplishments of her first term — but she soon took aim squarely at Trump and his politics.
“This year, against the backdrop of a federal administration’s chaos and cruelty, we faced a choice: Cave to the pressure, backtrack, change course — or double down on the values that founded our nation,” Wu said. “That is what this election was about here in Boston — not just how we lead, but what we believe. . . . And most of all, whether we will bow to a criminal who acts like a king. For 250 years, that answer hasn’t changed.”
That focus on national politics is relatively new for Wu, who four years ago ran for office on promises to reshape the city’s development process, enact a municipal Green New discount, and lower costs for residents by pushing for fare-free public transit and rent control. Today, many of those ambitious progressive promises remain incomplete. But Wu — a fixture on the campaign trail this year, along with her third child, 10-month-old baby Mira — remained enduringly popular among Boston voters, who’ve praised her for pushing back against a Trump administration that has taken aim at bright-blue Boston.
Her combative appearance in March before a GOP-led congressional committee examining immigration policies of so-called sanctuary cities catapulted Wu into the national political spotlight, earning her plaudits from Democrats nationwide. Wu rode a wave of good will among voters to win 72 percent of the vote in Boston’s September preliminary election, an intimidating performance that led rival Josh Kraft to drop out days later.
Wu will be joined by a group of mostly familiar faces at City Hall in January. With her own victory assured, Wu spent the past two months stumping for like-minded candidates for City Council who could help advance her agenda in her second term. The overall bent of the progressive council is unlikely to shift much with Tuesday’s results, and Wu has long had success getting her agenda passed by her colleagues on City Hall’s fifth floor.
In the most closely watched race, for city councilor at-large, all four incumbent councilors were poised for reelection, according to unofficial results late Tuesday. Incumbent Councilor Henry Santana — a Wu ally seen as the most vulnerable member of the slate — declared victory Tuesday night at the victory rave in the Seaport.
“Two years ago, the people of Boston took a chance on me — on an immigrant raised in public housing in Mission Hill, who graduated from Boston Public Schools and got a city job,” Santana told a cheering crowd. “Tonight, I am so grateful to the thousands of residents of Boston who have placed their trust in me again.”
Frank Baker, a former councilor and vocal Wu critic who was seeking to return to the body in an at-large role, told the crowd he planned to leave his election night rave on the early side, saying he was optimistic but did not expect to have results in his race until 2 or 3 a.m.
“I’m proud of what we did,” Baker said at Florian Hall in Dorchester. “I feel good about where we are. We did good every place in the city.”
In the only open seat on the council this year, Roxbury-based District 7, Miniard Culpepper declared victory Tuesday night, as unofficial results were still coming in. A Dorchester native, 71-year-old Culpepper worked nearly 30 years as an attorney in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and is widely known as a grass-roots community advocate and pastor at the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church.
“This hasn’t really been a political campaign — this has really been a community campaign, where community folks came together across the board, from the South End to Roxbury to Fenway to Dorchester,” Culpepper told a crowd of a few dozen supporters at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury.
Nearby, at the Eritrean Community Center in Roxbury, opponent Said Ahmed did not immediately concede late Tuesday.
In a sleepy off-year election, the big question in the city and across the state was how many voters would show up to vote at all.
Secretary of State William F. Galvin predicted Monday that turnout in the city was unlikely to exceed 100,000 — less than one-quarter of registered voters.
Many of the efforts to pull voters to the polls came from Wu’s campaign. The mayor has maintained high approval ratings, even as large shares of voters complain of high housing costs, transit woes, and beleaguered city schools.
Interviews with dozens of Bostonians this year showed that some don’t blame her for the city’s problems, or believe she is doing her best to address them despite steep obstacles.
At her polling place in the South End on Tuesday, 46-year-old Sarah Pingree acknowledged this year’s contest was not “a very exciting election to vote in.”
“But I still believe it matters,” said Pingree, who brought her dog, a Bernese named Clarence, to the polls with her. “The system only works if we all participate in it.”
As for whom Pingree’s vote went to: That was Wu, she said. “I like that she’s sticking up to President Trump,” she said.
Wu brought her influence to bear down ballot, in closely watched races for City Council, most notably the hotly contested at-large race. That contest became something of a proxy battle between Wu and former mayor Martin J. Walsh, a political rival who backed Baker, with PACs aligned with Wu and Walsh supporting opposing candidates.
By late Tuesday night, the power of Wu’s influence was undeniable. And there were indications she has her eyes set not just on this term but on the next one, too.
At her victory rave, as Wu addressed an enthusiastic crowd, baseball caps began to circulate bearing her campaign logo. Beneath her surname were two numbers: the year of her current triumph, and the next year she will appear on the ballot for Boston mayor.
It read: “Wu/2025 2029/Boston.”
Niki Griswold, Anjali Huynh, and Jaime Moore-Carrillo of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Katie Muchnick, Katarina Schmeiszer and Sadaf Tokhi contributed reporting.
Emma Platoff can be reached at emma.platoff@globe.com. Follow her @emmaplatoff.
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