The Markeyverse is giving rise to the Wuniverse.
The Gen-Z activists whose social-media savvy improbably powered 74-year-old incumbent U.S. Sen. Edward Markey to a primary win over 39-year-old challenger U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III earlier this month are at it again — this time for newly minted Boston mayoral candidate Michelle Wu.
Even before the at-large city councilor officially jumped into the race Tuesday morning, activists were already lighting up social media and rebranding their Markey fan accounts in support of Wu, a 35-year-old Asian-American who’s looking to take on incumbent Mayor Martin Walsh should he decide to run for a third term.
The shift may seem surprising — but the logic behind it is the same that propelled young progressives to Markey in droves in the first place.
“First it was this old white guy, and now we’re working for a woman of color in a very down-ballot race. But it’s tied to the issues they’re fighting for,” said 16-year-old Calla Walsh, a veteran of the online movement the senator embraced as the “Markeyverse.”
“These are people who have never shied away from advocating for bold policies and structural change,” she said. “Young people, we don’t want another task force or fund. We want structural change.”
Both candidates’ youth appeal comes in no small part from their embrace of the Green New Deal, which Markey co-authored in Congress and Wu introduced her own version of in Boston.
Progressive Massachusetts organizer Jonathan Cohn said many young activists “are mobilized by climate issues especially, and Michelle has made a point to talk about that.”
And Wu could benefit strongly from cultivating a vociferous and passionate online coalition like Markey’s, said Democratic strategist Scott Ferson, who’s working with the senator’s campaign.
“The Markeyverse — it’s quite a powerful force in support of Ed Markey,” helping with both fundraising and making contact with young people who otherwise might not vote, Ferson said.
Some “Markeyverse” members are already climbing aboard the Students for Michelle Wu train, a group that directly credits for inspiration the Students for Markey volunteer group made up of hundreds of middle- and high-school and college students that wasn’t affiliated with the senator’s campaign but made hundreds of thousands of calls on his behalf, Calla Walsh said.
Less than 12 hours after Wu’s launch, young volunteers already had Twitter threads and a spreadsheet to keep track of the dozen-plus accounts popping up in the “Wuniverse” — the nickname for the online effort backing Wu. One example on the list: The whimsically named “Ketchup for Markey” is now “Ketchup for Wu.”
Not everyone who supports Markey will automatically be pulling for Wu. Markey has a strong relationship with the mayor, who endorsed the senator in his tough primary battle and remains popular in Boston.
But this race, even more so than the battle between Markey and Kennedy, could test the limits of young and progressive grassroots organizing against the entrenched union mobilizing machine certain to come in strong for the mayor.
“This is very much a jump ball,” longtime consultant Larry DiCara said. But “who knows if this high-pitched activism among the far left is going to keep going.”
Calla Walsh says she and her fellow volunteers aren’t intimidated by the mayor’s deep support and $5.2 million war chest. They’re already preparing to mobilize “nonstop” for a preliminary election that’s a year away, energized by the possibility of electing the first woman and person of color to the city’s highest office.
“It’s going to be a tough fight and we are the underdogs,” she said. “But we did the unthinkable by defeating a Kennedy in Massachusetts and I think we can do the same by defeating an incumbent mayor in Boston.”
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