A Boston City Hall employee has filed paperwork to run for mayor against Michelle Wu.
Kerry Augustin, a 26-year-old community activist and receptionist who works for the city’s Age Strong Commission, created a campaign committee and fund with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance on Monday. He said he plans to pull nomination papers from the city’s Elections Department later this month.
“It’s actually always something that I have planned to do,” Augustin said of running for mayor. “It’s just that I felt now, given how I see the city’s moving pieces and the political climate of the country I decided to take a step in a little bit earlier than before.”
He joins Josh Kraft, son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and longtime philanthropist, and community activist Domingos DaRosa in the field of declared candidates vying to unseat Wu, who is seeking a second term.
Augustin is a political newcomer and moderate Democrat who readily cops to being “fairly young” and in the early stages of his professional life. Despite his lack of experience in government, he said he wasn’t interested in getting his feet wet by running instead for a City Council seat this year.
“I’ve been told that a lot, but I believe real change starts at the top,” Augustin told the Herald. “The way I see it is City Council is a step down from the mayor position, like the way you’d see it in cabinet levels of the president.
“But what you want and what the person you may likely answer to may not always align, and obviously you butt heads. I want the chance to lead as the person at the very top and give those who do report to me a chance to freely do and exercise their actual political duty,” he said.
Augustin lives in Dorchester. He attended Massasoit Community College and then Bridgewater State University.
He sees himself running a grassroots campaign without the backing of major donors and corporations. He said he sees that as an advantage, however, in terms of being able to connect with people who have the same struggles with affordability as he does, particularly as it pertains to housing.
“I don’t have any power,” Augustin said. “I have no influence. I’m not backed by millions, billions of dollars. No one is influencing me. This is my decision to want to improve my city. This is a revolutionary city. The Boston Tea Party happened here. I think that we’re on the brink of changes, and you want someone that represents the people, someone who’s been there, just like everyone else.”