Boston’s left-wing Mayor Michelle Wu and liberal Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey have both been mercilessly booed by the Fenway faithful at the Boston Red Sox home opener.
While Wu easily won reelection in 2025 and Healey is expected to cruise to a second term this November, Red Sox fans were not interested in an appearance from the pair before their game against the San Diego Padres.
The duo stood surrounded by longtime Red Sox legends from their 1986 American League championship winning team who could not stop the 36,233 in attendance from giving them a lengthy boo ahead of Boston’s 5-2 win.
While both forced smiles, the pair were clearly uncomfortable facing the wrath of the rowdy opening day crowd.
Healey has not reacted to the moment, instead making multiple tweets celebrating the Red Sox return to Boston, as well as a proclamation declaring April 3 Red Sox Day in Massachusetts.
She also posted a 30-second video including several clips from her attendance at the legendary ballpark, though the boos were not included, declaring herself ‘Boston forever. Go Red Sox.’
The video included brief moments of herself smiling and posing for photos with the Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster and his sister Tessie.
Both Healey and Wu have faced controversies early this year, with Healey having faced backlash after using thousands of dollars in taxpayers’ money to give a payoff to a top aide accused of trafficking cocaine.
Boston’s left-wing Mayor Michelle Wu (pictured center left) and liberal Massachusetts governor Maura Healey (pictured center right) were both ravenously booed by the Fenway faithful at the Boston Red Sox home opener
Healey posted a video that included brief moments of herself smiling and posing for photos with the Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster and his sister Tessie
Her office awarded LaMar Cook $31,439 as part of the buyout clause in his contract – on top of his $98,789 base salary – after he was arrested in October.
Cook, 45, was fired after police intercepted a package containing 18 pounds of cocaine that was destined for Healey’s Springfield office.
Healey’s office later rolled back on the payment, saying it was made in error and that they had ‘taken action to get it back’ after constituents ridiculed the decision to give an alleged criminal money.
‘Taxpayer dollars should never go to an individual who engaged in this type of outrageous criminal activity. This payment was erroneously made,’ her office said in a statement on Tuesday.
Healey’s office told the Boston Herald that Cook had been informed last month that he had to return the money, but he has yet to do so. The Governor’s Office is now gearing up to file a legal complaint against the former employee next week.
Meanwhile, Wu has recently drawn criticism for skipping an annual St. Patrick’s Day event just weeks after she attended a Ramadan night market.
Mayor Michelle Wu, 41, was a no-show at the decades-old St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast on Sunday morning, hosted at the Ironworkers Local 7 Union Hall in South Boston.
The breakfast, which Wu attended last year, was a gathering of different politicians from across the state who take turns throwing jabs, jokes, and songs at one another.
Join the discussion
What do the loud boos for Boston’s leaders at Fenway say about politics and sports colliding?
Healey posted a 30-second video including several clips from her attendance at the legendary ballpark, though the boos were not included, declaring herself ‘Boston forever. Go Red Sox’
Both Healey and Wu have faced controversies early this year
However, Wu, who posted online about a Ramadan Night market at city hall just about two weeks before not attending the St. Patrick’s Day event, chose to go to church with her family instead, a spokesperson told the Boston Globe.
The mayor’s absence follows hot on the heels of a clash with the event’s host, Senator Nick Collins.
Collins, a fellow Democrat, has publicly opposed Wu’s proposal to avoid a tax increase for residential property owners by briefly increasing taxes on commercial real estate in the city.
At last year’s event, the senator used some of his time to sing a parody of John Denver’s classic song Take Me Home, Country Roads in which he referenced Wu’s handling of pothole repairs.
Josh Kraft, son of Patriots Owner Robert Kraft, was in attendance at last year’s event and had mocked the mayor for the city being covered in scaffolding and smelling of marijuana.
Kraft hoped to defeat Wu for mayor of the city, but was dominated in the preliminary election in September by 48 points, forcing him to drop out of the race.
According to Emerson College Polling in September, 66 percent of voters approved of the job she is doing in office.
Healey, meanwhile, polls at double digits ahead of several potential Republican opponents in her reelection campaign this November.
