On the latest episode of Boston’s Race Into History—which is borrowing the Scrum’s space from now through early November—we size up Annissa Essabi George and MIchelle Wu’s similarities and differences when it comes to the crisis at Mass and Cass and the bigger problems the situation there embodies. Our guests are former Boston City Council candidate Domingos DaRosa, Marla Smith of the South End-Roxbury Community Partnership, and Catherine D’Amato of the Greater Boston Food Bank. First,...

The Scrum is on hiatus through Boston’s final mayoral election, in part because we’re doing a limited-run show on Boston’s mayoral race, “Boston’s Race Into History.” You can watch it Fridays at 7 pm on GBH Channel 2, or find it at GBHNews.org or on YouTube — but we’re also going to post the audio of episodes here. Video doesn’t work for everyone, and we want as many people as possible to hear what Saraya Wintersmith, Adam Reilly, Peter Kadzis, and other contributors have to say on politics...

GBH News reporter Adam Reilly welcomes local political experts who are closely watching Boston's mayoral race to see which of the five candidates will face each other in the race to the November elections, in a live event taped on the eve of the election. GBH News City Hall reporter Saraya Wintersmith and WBZ political commentator Jon Keller lead the way with their reporting and historical context. Pollster Steve Koczela points out interesting data points in the race, and finally UMass...

It’s an historic field of candidates. And five of them are battling for the voters' attention. They may be swimming in the same pool, but they are trying to find the lane that will bring them to victory and the mayor's office. You'll hear a lot of aquatic metaphors in this installment of The Scrum. So, brace yourselves. Our political analysts, Professor Erin O’Brien from UMass Boston and Lisa Kashinsky of POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook, get into it with hosts Adam Reilly and Saraya...

We’re closing in on Boston’s preliminary mayoral election, so this week, The Scrum asks: How did the city get here? A field with five major candidates who are all people of color, four of them women, in a city that has exclusively elected white men to the mayor’s post. GBH News’ political editor Peter Kadzis gives a brief history lesson on local Boston politics. A lot of credit, Kadzis says, goes to Ayanna Pressley’s 2009 election to City Council. Then Reilly and Wintersmith get into...

Excavating previously unknown details about a major media event is no easy task — but Edward-Isaac Dovere pulls it off admirably in his new book, “Battle For The Soul: Inside The Democrats’ Campaigns To Defeat Trump.” The book is packed with juicy background about weird personal proclivities (Bernie Sanders likes his hotel rooms ***cold***) and awkward dynamics between candidates. And it pulls the curtain back on bigger, more important topics — like the internecine feud between Democratic...

If you’re a Scrum listener, you know that Boston has a strong-mayor form of government, with the mayor holding almost all the cards when it comes to actual power and the city council limited structurally in its ability to push back. But now that could be on the verge of changing, thanks to a proposal championed by City Councilor Lydia Edwards that would drastically enhance the council’s ability to shape Boston’s $3 billion budget. In this episode, Edwards makes the case for the changes she’s...

It’s one of the more improbable comeback stories in recent memory: after tumbling from the political heights and doing time in prison, former State Senator Dianne Wilkerson has emphatically re-established herself as a political force in Boston. Adam Reilly talks with Philip Martin about his new story detailing Wilkerson’s fall and rise; the record and community loyalties that have made the latter possible; and Wilkerson’s ongoing insistence on seeing herself as a victim who was unjustly...

Right now, any talk about the 2022 Massachusetts governor’s race is likely to be speculative. Maybe Charlie Baker will seek a third term! Maybe Maura Healey will finally challenge him! But there’s one notable exception: Ben Downing, the former Democratic state Senator, is in and has already been running for months. In this episode, Adam Reilly and Mike Deehan chat with Downing about his vision for the state and how his biography informs his political worldview — but first, Adam, Peter Kadzis,...

The death of Mikayla Miller, a 16-year-old from Hopkinton, is a deeply personal and emotional loss for her family. But since Miller's body was found last month, it's become something else: a case study in the distrust an increasingly wide segment of Americans have for law enforcement — and a political crisis for Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, who's leading the investigation into Miller's death. Zoe Mathews talks through what’s known, what remains unknown, and how things...

It’s been a busy — and high-stress — stretch for Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell. A supporter of Acting Mayor Kim Janey emailed Campbell supporters suggesting that she drop out of the race to clear a path for Janey’s election citywide, prompting Campbell, who’s been running since September 2020, to retort, “Black women candidates for public office are not interchangeable.” And the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association sparred with Campbell on Twitter, implying without evidence that...

He hasn’t been making headlines over the past few weeks, but Jon Santiago says he’s been laying the groundwork to win Boston’s 2021 mayoral contest — by landing key endorsements from elected officials, winning the support of unions, and talking with as many voters as possible. Santiago recaps his campaign’s progress in a conversation with Saraya Wintersmith and Adam Reilly. He also makes it clear that he has no intention of criticizing former Mayor Marty Walsh’s stewardship of the city — and...

There are certain stereotypes attached to Massachusetts State Government. The Senate is liberal; the House is (relatively) conservative; and they tend not to get along. When they do join forces, they’re often checked by the governor, and sometimes return the favor — though during Charlie Baker’s tenure, things have been pretty amicable. Three months into Ron Mariano’s tenure as speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, though, the dynamics that have applied for years may be...

The intense national interest in Kim Janey’s ascension that her stewardship of Boston could change, or begin to change, perception of the city. It could also change the way the Boston sees itself. But there are some important caveats attached to the Janey era — starting with the fact that it could end in November, when Boston holds the final election to replace former mayor Marty Walsh. Yawu Miller, the senior editor of the Bay State Banner, talks about what it’s been like as a Black...

The push for a more transparent Boston Police Department was one of the hallmarks of Marty Walsh’s second term. But now, as Walsh gets ready to head to Washington, his pick to run the BPD — Commissioner Dennis White — is on leave as the city investigates domestic-violence allegations that surfaced after his appointment. In this episode of the Scrum, Saraya Wintersmith updates Adam Reilly on the status of that investigation and how the various candidates hoping to replace Walsh are addressing...

Jeffrey Turco, a moderate Democrat who voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016, defeated a number of more progressive candidates in the 19th District special election primary to succeed former House Speaker Robert Deleo. In this episode of the Scrum, Peter Kadzis talks with NBC10's Sue O'Connell and Liam Kerr of Priorities for Progress about the race itself, the role social media plays in elections and whether nationalizing local races is effective. Are there lessons to be learned...

The first two candidates in Boston’s 2021 mayoral race, Michelle Wu and Andrea Campbell, committed to running before labor-secretary-in-waiting Marty Walsh’s plans were clear. But Annissa Essaibi George took a different tack. In this episode of the Scrum, AEG talks with Peter Kadzis and Adam Reilly about why she wouldn’t have run against Walsh; how she’d change Boston’s school system, including its school committee; how growing up in Boston with an Arab father shaped her worldview; and what...

It’s looking increasingly likely that the next mayor of Boston will be a female person of color — but for years, the city’s inability or unwillingness to elect anyone other than white men has been a defining trait. In Denver, meanwhile, which resembles Boston in several respects, three of the last four mayors have been people of color. So what gives? Nearly a decade ago, GBH News senior editor Ken Cooper — who grew up in Denver, but has called Boston home for years — offered some answers in...

In the eyes of the electorate, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has been able to do no wrong for the vast majority of his time in office. The state’s troubled COVID-vaccine rollout is a notable, potentially damaging exception to that rule. Peter Kadzis and Adam Reilly size up the situation, and its deeper lessons, with Joan Vennochi of the Boston Globe, who also has some pointed thoughts on the state of Boston as Mayor Marty Walsh prepares to head to Washington, D.C.

After the 2020 presidential election and the harrowing events that followed it—which are still playing out—the question of whether the United States can survive as a functioning polity is real and pressing. In this episode of the Scrum, Bay State Banner senior editor Yawu Miller joins Peter Kadzis and Adam Reilly to size up where we’ve been and where we’re heading.

Now that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is headed to Washington, you can’t swing a stick without hitting a potential mayoral candidate. But when Walsh’s plans were unclear, just two people had the guts to commit to running against him if he sought a third term — and Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell was one of them. In this episode of the Scrum, she talks with Peter Kadzis and Adam Reilly about Boston’s progress in the Walsh years and what she would do differently as mayor. Campbell also speaks...

If you pay attention to Boston politics, four-term city councilor Michelle Wu is a familiar figure, known for her electoral prowess and her determinedly progressive politics. But there are some aspects of Wu’s political identity that even her fans might not be familiar with — including her conception of how Boston politics intersect (or *could* intersect) with Massachusetts politics, and the impact her mother’s struggle with mental illness had on her approach to governance. In this episode of...

Critics have argued for a while now that Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker isn’t doing enough to stem the spread of COVID-19 — relying instead on restrictions that were established weeks or months ago, and aren’t sufficient for the moment we find ourselves in. But over the past few days, as Massachusetts sets new records for reported daily cases and other key metrics head in the wrong direction, that frustration has reached a fever pitch. In this episode of the Scrum, two Boston...

Quick: if you hear the name “Joe Biden,” what places spring to mind? Delaware, for obvious reasons. Scranton, probably, along with the requisite dose of earthy Irish-American wisdom. But Boston should, too. The president elect didn’t grow up in this area, but some of Boston’s top political power brokers helped shape and guide his career — which was also defined, for years, by an embarrassing presidential setback inflicted by the campaign of one Mike Dukakis back in 1987. In this episode of...

If you’ve been around long enough, you still think of presidential elections as efficient events that provide clear answers in a finite period of time, exceptions to the rule notwithstanding ([cough] 2000 [cough]). But the 2020 election may shatter that romantic ideal once and for all — and when the dust settles and the results are in, whenever that is and whatever they are, we’ll still be facing huge questions about the future of American democracy. Peter Kadzis and Adam Reilly talk about...