Battenfeld: Voters across the nation rejecting ‘defund the police’ candidates, but not in Boston

Voters in crime-ridden cities throughout the country are rejecting “defund the police” movements, but here in liberal Boston the candidate advocating to cut the police budget is the front-runner.

City Councilor Michelle Wu, who has a big lead in the polls, has in the past supported a 10% cut in the police and overtime budget, a ban on a gang database and other police reform measures, while her opponent, Annissa Essaibi-George, backs hiring more police officers.

Wu also voted to restrict the use of tear gas and soft projectiles to control crowds, while Essaibi-George voted against it.

But despite worries about crime, voters appear to be siding with Wu as the race heads into the final hours before Tuesday’s election.

But nationwide the trend is going the way in favor of law and order candidates.

In cities such as Buffalo, New York City, Seattle and Cleveland, mayoral candidates backing the police are now ahead in polls leading up to Tuesday’s election.

The far left candidate in Buffalo, India Walton, a community activist and strong defund the police supporter, is trailing her more moderate foe, incumbent Mayor Byron Brown, by 17 points. This despite the fact Brown is actually running a write-in campaign because he lost to Walton in the primary.

And the Washington Post reported that Walton is now de-emphasizing her position on cutting police resources.

In Seattle, law-and-order mayoral candidate Bruce Harrell is now leading his opponent, M. Lorena Gonzalez, who in the past supported cuts in the police budget. Seattle, along with other cities, has been wracked by a skyrocketing homicide rate.

A recent Pew Research Center poll revealed the sharp decline that defund the police movements have encountered. It showed 47% of U.S. voters want police to get more funding — not less. Last June, in the midst of protests over police brutality, just 31% of Americans supported more police funding.

Wu has softened some of her anti-police rhetoric in the past few months, waffling on whether she will try to cut the police budget by 10%.

“It’s not enough to just put a specific number,” she said. “We need to ensure accountability and that our resources are allocated in the right way, but that has to come with clear plans and with a commitment to execute those plans.”

Sounds like Wu is just a little concerned about being too aligned with the defund the police movement, which has proven to be problematic for some Democratic candidates in other big cities.

Essaibi-George emphasizes her support of police and police unions’ support of her candidacy in her ads and in her supportive super PAC ads.

“Defunding our police will put the residents of Boston at greater risk. As mayor, Annissa Essaibi-George won’t defund our police,” one ad by a pro-Essaibi-George super PAC says.

Good strategy, but probably not enough to offset the progressive wave sweeping through Boston.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3GIl1sr