Tonight marks the first of four televised debates between Boston mayor hopefuls John Connolly, City Councilor At-Large, and Marty Walsh, State Representative, and you can watch it via live stream at 7pm ET below. Both candidates boast their own respective strengths and weaknesses but have yet to truly separate themselves to the voters. Tonight is the forum to do just that.
Check out the live stream of the Boston mayoral debate at 7pm here:
Connolly and Walsh have traded numbers for endorsements, with Connolly ahead in polls and Walsh garnering the support of influencers city-wide, it’s hard to say that one has an advantage over the other. After all, poll numbers are just glorified estimates and endorsements are only effective when the endorser hits the streets and gets their respective supporters to vouch for the endorsed candidate.
Still, it’s likely we’ll see each play up the persona they’ve adopted thus far.
Connolly, a former Boston Public School teacher, is the education candidate using his classroom prowess to bolster his stance on education reform. Per polling demographics, he’s doing well with women and predominantly white neighborhoods like this hometown West Roxbury and has run a conservative-style campaign that reflects his targets. Interestingly, he carried East Boston in the preliminary election, a neighborhood deeply rooted in Portuguese heritage.
Walsh, a former labor union rep, is more inclined to job growth as well as education reform, but has also been more outspoken than his opponent in terms of LGBTQ tolerance. A native of Dorchester, he is favored more amongst minority males and blue-collar neighborhoods and will continue to own the salt of the earth character he lives.
Being that this is the first debate, it’s likely that neither candidate will go out on a limb to publicly paint a negative picture of the other. There’s plenty of time for throwing mud. In the meantime, it’s likely that both will try and portray themselves as regular men with bright ideas for the city they both grew up in and know inside and out.
Stay tuned to BostInno for the latest Boston mayoral coverage.
