Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is pregnant and planning to welcome her third child, a girl, in January, she announced in an exclusive interview with The Boston Globe Monday. Wu’s campaign later sent out an email to supporters Monday evening sharing the news.
Wu said she, her husband, and two young sons are thrilled to be expanding their family. The first woman, person of color, and mother elected to lead City Hall — and also the youngest in nearly a century — Wu, 39, emphasized that her pregnancy would not influence her decision to run for reelection next year.
“I plan to run, and we’ll make an announcement when the time is right about the formal launch of a campaign,” Wu said. “But there’s a lot of work to do, and if anything, this exciting news gives me even more motivation and determination that we have to show what’s possible in Boston at a time where our action is needed as an example far beyond our city.”
This pregnancy has been more difficult than her earlier experiences, Wu said. In the first trimester, she endured much more intense morning sickness than she had with Blaise and Cass.
Entering her second trimester recently brought relief, and not just of her physical symptoms. Wu said she and her husband experienced the heartbreak of two miscarriages in between having their younger son, Cass, and this pregnancy. Wu has never formally shared her experiences of pregnancy loss with the public.
“The first two pregnancies were, relatively speaking, very easy and very smooth. Both kind of happened pretty quickly and right when we were hoping for them,” said Wu. “I feel so lucky now, especially that I know kind of what the alternative can be. . . . In some ways, because of that, it is both more exciting and also more nerve wracking.”
Navigating public office while raising young children is familiar territory for Wu. She is part of a vanguard of women in politics who’ve defied well-worn rules demanding they hide their gender and their motherhood, lest they alienate voters conditioned to see only a certain type of candidate as electable.
Instead, Wu throughout her political career has centered her own experience as a mother and caregiver, including breastfeeding her newborn sons during City Council meetings, to address the challenges working mothers face. That emphasis has formed a key component of her political identity and policy platform, driving her efforts to expand access to child care and parental leave, tackle long-standing problems within Boston Public Schools, and provide more support for working parents and families.
“Residents across the city have seen me doing the juggle for many years and in various ways, and it’s an experience that so many families have to find a way to juggle and to balance,” Wu said.
She first became a caregiver in her early 20s, when her mother’s mental illness prompted Wu to take responsibility for her and her two younger sisters, including becoming her youngest sister’s guardian. She had her first son, now 9-year-old Blaise, at the end of 2014, her first year as a Boston city councilor. The following year she successfully spearheaded a push to give city employees six weeks of paid parental leave after the birth or adoption of a child, or experiencing pregnancy loss.
During her time as City Council president, Wu gave birth to her second son, now 7-year-old Cass, in 2017. She won reelection for her second term on the council about four months later.
“Having a great support network and being in this amazing city makes all the difference,” she said. “I have been through two citywide campaigns within a year of having a baby, and both turned out great.”
As with the birth of her two sons, Wu said, she doesn’t intend to take maternity leave despite her push to make that an option for municipal workers. She said that after her sons were born she went “right back on the job,” returning in time for the next council meeting. After she won her mayoral election, her husband, Conor Pewarski, opted to leave his job as a community lender at a bank to stay at home with their kids. Wu earns an annual salary of $207,000 as mayor.
“Given the nature of the work and the job . . . I plan to continue serving in this role and working with my team so that we can make whatever adjustments, slight adjustments, might be needed,” she said.
In her time as mayor, Wu launched a website to help families find and enroll in child-care options around Boston, expanded pre-K and youth job programs, and invested in BPS summer and weekend programming.
Wu said her personal experiences trying to access or navigate those resources strongly influences how she approaches her work as the city’s chief executive.
“The job of any elected official is to try to really understand the experiences of their constituents, and wherever possible, to translate that into improvements that we can make through policy or resources or other actions,” said Wu. “It does bring special resonance when I get to hear the stories of moms and dads and families who feel comfortable enough to share what they’ve been going through, because they know that I get it, and that might be the most meaningful and humbling part of the job.”
Wu said she tries to take a family-oriented approach to her policies on all issues, even transportation, housing, and public safety. Her office recently worked with local providers to offer child care for working parents who want to participate in the police academy.
“It’s never been on the radar before for that kind of job, in that kind of role, but it was exciting to make that happen,” she said.
While no opponents have formally launched campaigns against Wu in next year’s election, speculation on who might do so has kept the rumor mill churning. People close to Josh Kraft, the younger son of billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, indicate he is weighing a challenge and would seek to build a coalition of groups frustrated with some of Wu’s recent initiatives, such as her recent property tax classification proposal.
Wu said her family is still absorbing the news of the pregnancy.
“They’re little boys who are much more interested in explaining how sailing camp went, [or] whether we can go to the Y to go swimming today. It doesn’t really register for most of their daily existence,” Wu said laughing. “But I know they’re going to be really wonderful big brothers, and they seem excited about that part of it too.”
She said her younger son, Cass, is keen on one particular aspect of the coming change.
He “is kind of tired of just being a little brother,” she said, “so he’s looking forward to getting the extra title.”
Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.