‘Big brother in the business': The political odd couple whose partnership could reshape Boston politics

Boston Globe

4 hours ago

Wu, 40, calls 47-year-old Michlewitz her 'big brother in the business,' though
he jokes that it's hard to see the powerful mayor of Boston as a 'little sister.' For more than a decade, they have been close friends and strong political allies, and when she speaks, he watches with the pride attendant to the familial role.
Michlewitz is poised, if the parlor game is to be believed, to ascend to the
House's
most influential post when Speaker Ron Mariano ultimately retires.
That potential promotion —
the first time in nearly a generation that Boston would have one of its own in that role — could make a friendship that started 15 years ago in Boston's South End into the most important political partnership in New England. And it could mark a momentous shift for a city unusually beholden to the whims of Beacon Hill.
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Wu and Michlewitz make up something of an odd couple. She is a locally elected progressive constrained by the more centrist tendencies of state powerbrokers; he is one of those powerbrokers. She is fighting Beacon Hill to give Boston rent control; he is on Beacon Hill opposing rent control. Her expansive agenda for the city depends on support from his colleagues at the state, and he does not always deliver it.
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Aaron Michlewitz endorsed then-Councilor Michelle Wu for mayor in 2021.
Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
And yet the two are undeniably close, sharing a genuine friendship that is not rooted in
political expediency, according to conversations with more than a dozen people who know them. Michlewitz is one of the people the independent-minded mayor listens to above others, say people who know them well. And Wu's outside perspective has influenced Michlewitz, too, he says. Even when they are not at some event together — cutting ribbons, delivering canned remarks, cheesing at a
It's hard to overstate how much Boston relies on Beacon Hill: for its funding, for its public transit system, for permission to do everything from grant a new liquor license to levy a new tax. Having Michlewitz at the helm could reverse the fortunes of a city known for
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Of course,
Michlewitz isn't speaker yet, and he declined to speculate on his political future. (Mariano, 78, has not said when he will retire, though speculation runs rampant; a spokesperson said
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To be sure, even the best-placed ally can not guarantee that Boston will get what it wants from the Legislature. Michlewitz and other House leaders sometimes
simply disagree with Wu, or believe the broader membership will disagree. In other moments, when they do line up, Michlewitz has muscled Wu's agenda through the House only to watch it die in the Senate, where she has fewer allies in leadership.
Even so, Boston politicians say the close link between City Hall and the State House has already benefited both — to a point.
'Boston is the big winner in the situation,' said state Representative Adrian Madaro, an East Boston Democrat. Still, 'that doesn't mean that every mayor is going to get whatever he or she wants. Boston is not the be-all, end-all at the State House.'
The Boston delegation is a limited faction of the 200-member state Legislature, Madaro added. 'It takes a lot of convincing to get anything done in this building.'
Opposite paths to power
Now arguably Boston's two most influential politicians, Wu and Michlewitz took opposite paths to power.
Michlewitz is a self-described 'city kid.' A lifelong resident of the North End, he worked in college for former Boston mayor Tom Menino, then for Sal DiMasi, the last Bostonian to serve as speaker of the Massachusetts House. After DiMasi resigned in scandal, Michlewitz won his House seat in a 2009 special election — the innermost of inside tracks. Michlewitz has steadily climbed the ranks since; he is now House budget chair, one of the most powerful posts in the state.
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Wu came from the outside. She arrived at Harvard from the Chicago area 20 years ago as a homesick college kid. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she was a management consultant, a small business owner, and a law student before she found her way to politics, earning a summer fellowship under Menino in City Hall and working for Elizabeth Warren's first
Senate campaign in 2012 before running for City Council herself.
Wu and Michlewitz met about 15 years ago, when she was his constituent, and grew closer through her work leading the Ward 4 Democratic Committee and then through shared efforts on the Warren campaign.
Michlewitz said he knew immediately that Wu would go far. They had not overlapped at City Hall, but
they were both part of the broader 'Menino family,' a group bonded by devotion to the long-serving mayor. And both had a mentor in
Near the end of 2012, Michlewitz recalled, Wu asked him to lunch at Zen in Beacon Hill and
told him she was running for city councilor at-large. At that time, it looked like there would be four incumbents seeking reelection in the race, which meant, to win, Wu would need to knock one of them off. Standing with her could mean rocking the boat. Michlewitz agreed to back her before she could even get the words out to ask, he recalled. He was her first endorsement.
Once
Wu was elected to the City Council, they became close collaborators on local issues, discussing sewers, alleyways, restrictions on Uber and AirBnB. In August 2014, Michlewitz posted a video in a white undershirt
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'It's so rare and it's so meaningful in a space like politics to
also find room for friendships,' Wu said in an interview. 'In some ways, it's felt like we've grown up together in Boston politics.'
The two politicians agree often, but not always. In 2016, when developers proposed a hulking, 700-foot-plus Winthrop Square tower, critics fretted about the shadow it would cast on Boston Common. Wu
Michlewitz confessed to being 'frustrated' by some of the city's new bike lanes, which Wu campaigned on expanding.
But their friendship endures despite those disagreements.
'We both have jobs to do. We have mutual respect for each other, which I think is important. And sometimes those jobs don't necessarily align,' he said.
There are times when rigid State House traditions seem to take precedence.
In 2021, Michlewitz endorsed his House colleague Jon Santiago for mayor of Boston, backing him
— as many state lawmakers did — over Wu. The message was clear: Beacon Hill stands by its own.
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There seem to have been no lasting hard feelings. When Santiago dropped out of the race months later, Michlewitz endorsed Wu and campaigned with her. On the day before the November election, with polls heavily favoring Wu, she and Michlewitz had lunch with Uncle Frank. Michlewitz recalled how optimistic he and Chin felt about the outcome. Wu remembered it as an anchoring moment of calm before the storm.
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Michlewitz wore a Michelle Wu for mayor button as he campaigned for her in 2021.
Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
When Wu won the next night, Michlewitz introduced her at her victory party. He hugged her, then stepped out of her spotlight so she could greet the triumphant crowd.
'The best ally'
Their relationship has only grown more central to the region's politics since that night. In the beginning of her term, they spoke every day, Michlewitz said.
''What do you think about this … How quickly should we do this?'' he recalled. 'Sometimes she'll listen to me, sometimes she doesn't.'
How often are they in touch now? 'A lot,' Wu said, with a laugh.
Every Boston mayor has relied on allies at the State House, in part because
Rent control, fare-free public transit, major elements of her plans for a greener city — all rest in the hands of her counterparts in the state Legislature. And history shows Boston mayors don't have a strong record there, even those, like Marty Walsh, who were once state legislators themselves.
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With Michlewitz in her corner, as well as other key allies such as Majority Leader Michael Moran of Brighton, Wu has notched
some major wins. The city has been granted a seat on the
Having allies in leadership makes those victories possible.
'Everything that the city needs at the House level is something [Michlewitz] is very helpful on,' said Phil Frattaroli, a North End restaurateur who has been involved in city politics. 'He's the best ally. … He's the best card to have in your hand.'
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Aaron Michlewitz embraced at the podium during a Massachusetts Democratic Party fund-raiser at Empire Garden restaurant in Chinatown in May.
Erin Clark
But sometimes — as in the case of rent control — Michlewitz does not agree with Wu, leaving a policy proposal nowhere at the State House. Cynical political observers note Michlewitz is unlikely to risk his own standing — or his path to the speaker's office — to benefit the mayor.
Wu acknowledged that the two don't always agree; 'at the city level versus the state level, there are different considerations,' she said.
'It's a different pace up there,' which can be frustrating, she continued. 'There's always something to be moving forward and collaborating on, and maybe, from his perspective, there's probably always something that I'm impatient on at any given moment. But that's my job.'
When Michlewitz does line up with Wu, sometimes even his influence can take her agenda only so far.
The ugliest battle Wu has faced to date on Beacon Hill was her effort last year to shift Boston's tax burden. She needed the state's permission to temporarily raise rates on businesses in order to blunt the increases to residents' bills.
It was a tall order on Beacon Hill, where business leaders who feel scorned by Wu tend to find more favorable treatment. The powerful real estate industry staunchly opposed Wu's proposal. Michlewitz knew it would be 'challenging' to pass it, but thought Wu should have the flexibility to maneuver through a difficult economic cycle.
Cue the negotiations. After Wu and Michlewitz agreed to a slightly narrower,
'He worked in the House to assure everyone that this was the right thing to do, because it wasn't an easy thing to get through,' said Jason Aluia, a lobbyist and leader of Boston's Ward 3 Democratic Committee who grew up with Michlewitz in the North End.
Wu and Michlewitz are able to talk frankly even about difficult political realities, Aluia said.
'He has a very keen political sense,' Aluia said. 'He's going to say, 'I could help you do this, but that's not happening right now,' and she accepts that because she knows the State House is his place, and the city is her domain.'
Trouble stirred again, though, when Wu's proposal headed to the Senate side, where a carefully
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It wasn't the first time, nor is it likely to be the last, that Wu's agenda cleared Michlewitz's wing of the building only to die on the side
where he wields far less influence. For some, there is a simple structural explanation: Beacon Hill runs on hierarchy, and Boston's stock is higher on the House side.
Of course, Wu is not the only one who benefits from the relationship. Michlewitz can turn to her on constituent issues or local city matters, such as street design (though, as they both readily acknowledged, they don't always agree). In recent years, as they navigated a
Wu and Michlewitz appeared in the North End amid a bitter debate over outdoor dining in the neighborhood.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
A second-term mayor with a strong mandate from voters, plus a freshly crowned House speaker from her city, would make for a powerful political force. But it remains to be seen whether each will take that next step, and whether they will row in the same direction if they do.
'Having leadership that's connected to Boston, of course, is going to shed a light on the needs in our city,' Wu said. 'There's always a lot to talk about on work issues and politics, but I'm grateful for a friendship that goes far beyond that.'
For his part, Michlewitz said of Wu, 'Sometimes she can convince me, sometimes I have to try to convince her.'
'The thing that I appreciate about the mayor the most is that she is an honest broker,' he said. 'That to me is more important than policy sometimes.'
Emma Platoff can be reached at