Elections

JPP 2025 Municipal Endorsements

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Mayoral

JP Progressives endorses Michelle Wu for her second term: We want her to continue to strive to be the bold progressive Mayor that the City of Boston needs. She has invested more in making housing affordable than any other administration in Boston’s history. Gun violence has fallen to the lowest levels on record. She promised a summer job to every BPS student who wanted one and delivered, and she has expanded the number of pre-kindergarten seats to serve more children and families than ever before.

As a Boston Public Schools parent, a child of immigrants, and an MBTA commuter, Mayor Wu is investing in building community for Boston’s brightest future. We especially appreciate how she stood up for Boston and all of its residents in front of Congress and how she has repeatedly affirmed Boston’s status as a sanctuary city and committed to upholding the Trust Act.

In her second term, we would like to see Mayor Wu and her administration listen to and work more with community groups and advocates – Boston is full of great ideas and passionate residents whose input can only serve to make our city stronger and more unified. An important opportunity would be to be responsive to the will of an overwhelming majority of Bostonians who voted in favor of an elected school committee. Another would be to more actively engage grassroots supporters and organizations in efforts to secure passage of home rule petitions and other bills that impact the quality of life in Boston. We also call on Mayor Wu to increase the amount of money in the Participatory Budgeting program–specifically doubling it annually until it reaches 1% of the total budget–as called for by advocates throughout the City. We hope Mayor Wu and her team can complete the reform of the PILOT program begun in her first term to enhance community engagement and strategically maximize community benefit distribution.

At-Large City Council

It is clear to JPP that Boston needs Ruthzee Louijeune’s calm and principled leadership on the City Council for another term. 

In Councilor Louijeune’s second term she has served as City Council President and has continued the work of democracy-building, increasing information about early voting and advocating for ranked-choice voting to make sure that the candidates who are elected are supported by the majority of voters. She made sure Boston invested in affordable housing and housing vouchers for families. She engaged in discussions with Boston Public Schools to ensure that the school budget prioritized improved school buildings, students’ mental health, behavioral health, and support for multilingual learners. She has demonstrated her unparalleled commitment to racial justice and civil rights by reaffirming our commitment to the Trust Act and the boundaries between the work of the Boston Police Department and civil deportations. And she also held hearings on trash collection and rodent control to ensure that Boston’s communities are safe, healthy, and well-maintained.
JP Progressives endorses Marvin Mathelier for his solid progressive positions, his lived personal experiences, and his breadth of knowledge. Mr. Mathelier is the co-owner of JP’s Ula Cafe, as well as the father of three young children who attend Boston Public Schools. His experience of opening and operating a small business in the City means he will bring a deep understanding of how the small business system works, and his family’s experience navigating BPS will bring first-hand knowledge of Boston’s public school landscape. He is also an independent voice, which is important in a strong-mayor system; we believe he will stand up for important progressive priorities on the Council even when it is not the politically expedient path. While JPP normally doesn’t cite experience in the military as a strength in a political candidate, Marvin’s Marine service in disaster response and security cooperation in Haiti is impressive.

We were impressed that Mr. Mathelier came well-prepared for our election conversation. He shared ideas to expand affordable housing, including looking at the zoning process as well as engaging and collaborating with other local city councils to ensure affordability within the greater Boston area. His transportation vision starts with looking at ways to make the MBTA free by leveraging a tax on out-of-town developers. He would like to strengthen BPS by finding additional ways to support school principals, teachers, and other touch-point staff. He proposes revitalizing PILOT by implementing a fair assessment process to determine current property value, placing into the Institutional Master Plans (IMP) what the neighborhood is requesting, and then holding the institutions accountable to those requests. His stances strike us as values-driven and evidence of a progressive mindset. We are especially happy with his clear support for rent stabilization, as well as for an elected school committee and to end Boston’s engagement in the BRIC—those two positions were not held by the other progressive candidate under consideration.
JP Progressives endorses Julia Mejia for another term serving on the Boston City Council. She remains one of the most persistent champions of increasing the access of all Bostonians to City Hall and their elected representatives. One of her lasting contributions is the establishment of the Government Accountability, Transparency, and Accessibility Committee within the City Council, which she chairs. We also appreciate her ongoing commitment to language accessibility for council hearings and City documents and information.

Councilor Mejia is vice chair of the Education, Housing and Community Development, and Labor, Workforce, and Economic Development Committees. Recognizing the significance of government oversight and compliance, she actively works toward measuring the success of protocols, policies, and procedures to tackle issues in education, housing, and transportation.
Councilor Henry Santana has championed vital investments in youth jobs and housing initiatives, and he has strengthened financial resources for the Office of Immigrant Advancement and the Office of LGBTQIA2S+ Advancement. JPP endorses him for a second term in office.

As the Chair of the Education Committee, Councilor Santana has focused on being a voice for our youth. He created “Santana’s Youth,” a citywide youth council that meets regularly with the councilor and his staff to discuss and work on issues that affect them as young people in Boston. He also chairs the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee and is vice chair of the Community Preservation Act Committee.

District 6 City Council

JP Progressives endorses Ben Weber to continue his work on the Boston City Council. During his first term he fought for and won funding for the Access To Counsel Program for families facing eviction (which he also started), for City Housing vouchers, and for increased youth programming at the Mildred Hailey Apartments. 

Councilor Weber is the Chair of the Civil Rights, Racial Equity, and Immigrant Advancement and the Labor, Workforce, and Economic Development Committees. In that capacity, he filed a wage theft ordinance that will stop the City of Boston from issuing contracts and licenses to employers who violate our wage laws. As a labor lawyer, he provides unique and important expertise to the Council but has also proven to be effective at the nuts and bolts of constituent services and responsive government thanks to his excellent and committed team. Additionally, we value his service on the surveillance review board, which monitors Boston’s use of surveillance technologies.

Please note that the District 6 race will only appear on the November 4 general election ballot and not on the September 9 preliminary ballot, as there are only two candidates running.