It's official: Boston's acting mayor wants to drop "the acting" and be your mayor for a full four years.

Kim Janey announced her candidacy for a full term in the fall election during a three-minute and 19 second video released this morning that ends with the appeal: "Your mayor is asking."

“The work to address the challenges we face from COVID-19 and the racial inequalities that have been inherited from centuries of structural racism will take longer than a few months to change,” Janey said in a statement to the press accompanying the video, which leans heavily into Boston's history of trailblazing Black political leaders. “It is going to take fearless leadership, bold action and a commitment to doing the hard work to make Boston the equitable city our residents want, need and deserve. I am 100% committed to leading this change.”

Set to a soundtrack of R&B, soul and hip-hop, the video traces Janey's personal journey as a fourth-generation Roxbury resident who — as a child— was thrust into the turmoil of Boston's often violent opposition to desegregation.

"I’m still not used to saying this yet. But I’m Kim Janey and I’m the 55th Mayor of the City of Boston. For our city it’s been a long time coming. Now, Boston having its first woman and first Black mayor, that’s just the start. We’ve got work to do," she says."

Janey became mayor on March 22 when former Mayor Marty Walsh resigned after his confirmation as Secretary of Labor for the Biden Administration. Boston's city charter automatically elevates the City Council President— in this case Janey—to the role of acting Mayor. She was officially sworn in during a ceremony at City Hall two days later.

Today's launch ends months of speculation about whether Janey would seek a full term as mayor. She joins a field that includes three of her city council colleagues— Michelle Wu, Andrea Campbell, and Annissa Essaibi George— along with state Rep. Jon Santiago and former Walsh economic chief John Barros.

Editor's note: Reporter editor and publisher Bill Forry's wife Linda Dorcena Forry, a former state Senator, served on Janey's transition team as a co-chair and a clip of her is included in Janey's campaign launch video.
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