Wu backs former aide in primary challenge against veteran Democrat, directly targeting state Senate leadership

Politics admin June 22, 2026 0 Comments

Wu backs former aide in primary challenge against veteran Democrat, directly targeting state Senate leadership

Touting him as a stronger partner for Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu on Monday endorsed Daniel Lander, her former aide who’s challenging veteran state Senator Will Brownsberger, intensifying her fight with Beacon Hill leadership through another heated Democratic primary.

Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat who represents parts of Boston, is the third-ranking Democrat in the state Senate and one of the key voices who nearly two years ago sounded the death knell for Wu’s plan to shift the city’s tax rates, a key legislative priority of the mayor’s, and voted against it again earlier this year.

Wu, in the matter of weeks, has inserted herself into two closely watched Senate primaries in Boston, pitting herself against foes, and fellow Democrats, at the State House. The mayor earlier this month endorsed Latoya Gayle over incumbent Nick Collins of South Boston, with whom she has fiercely, and publicly, clashed.

Her decision to weigh in on Lander’s challenge is not unexpected but still notable for other reasons.

The Suffolk and Middlesex district expands beyond Boston into Cambridge, Watertown, and Belmont, putting Wu’s political reach to the test in cities and a western Boston suburb where she’s never been on the ballot. Brownsberger also has the backing of Governor Maura Healey, who in endorsing him called him “instrumental” to getting a sweeping housing law over the finish line.

In a statement, Wu said she worked with Lander “to deliver for Boston families.”

“I know he’ll bring that same results-driven leadership to the State Senate,” Wu said. “Daniel never backs down from a fight and he knows how to get things done. I’m confident he’ll be a champion for affordable housing, better transit, and a stronger partnership between the state and our City.”

Lander, 35, trumpeted the high-profile endorsement just days after US Senator Elizabeth Warren also publicly backed his campaign.

“It shows this campaign has real legs,” he said.

Wu and Lander first met during Warren’s 2020 bid for president, Lander said. They bonded over a campaign trip together in New Orleans, where the rental car company provided them with a giant pickup truck to drive, embarrassing Lander, who said he knew he was working with a city councilor who’d later tout a “Green New Deal” for the city as mayor.

He later joined her mayoral campaign as an adviser in 2021, and Wu hired him into her administration as a policy aide, a role he left in January when he launched his Senate campaign.

In City Hall, Lander worked on policy to audit city-owned land that could be turned into housing, and helped establish the city’s “Family Days” program that opened the city’s museums and attractions to Boston students for free.

Lander also said he was a vocal supporter of Wu’s proposal to shift more of the city’s property tax burden onto commercial real estate to ease property tax spikes for homeowners.

Brownsberger has explained his views extensively in public blog posts on his website, where he details his viewpoints and the historical facts of how the city’s business-residential property tax split came to be and allows commenters to weigh in.

In his words, shifting property tax rates “is not an efficient way to deliver relief” to homeowners, and raising commercial taxes could hamper the city’s effort to revitalize downtown, which is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has also argued that state lawmakers’ role is not simply to acquiesce to local leaders on issues that can have ramifications beyond those cities and towns.

“We are one Commonwealth, there are 351 cities and towns,” Brownsberger said at a candidate forum last week at Berklee College of Music. “It’s entirely appropriate that there should be statewide rules on things like taxes, transportation.”