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Charlie Baker gaining traction with urban voters

Yawu Miller
Yawu Miller is the former senior editor of the Bay State Banner. He has written for the Banner since 1988.... VIEW BIO
Charlie Baker gaining traction with urban voters
Former Department of Children and Families Secretary Angelo McClain greets gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker at America’s Food Basket in Mattapan as Deputy Political Director Hodari Cail looks on. (Banner photo)

On a walk-through in Mattapan Square Sunday, gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker toured local businesses with a handful of supporters and reporters in tow.

On display was Baker’s easy-going rapport with voters. Reporters leaned in to hear Baker’s conversations with shop owners, who discussed the challenges of doing business in Mattapan square, and with shoppers.

No Republican gubernatorial candidate in recent memory has spent as much time campaigning in Boston’s black community as has Baker, who has toured Grove Hall, opened an office on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester and attended numerous parades, festivals and community events.

And although Democratic candidate Martha Coakley has made similar campaign stops (she was in Mattapan Square with state reps. Russell Holmes and Dan Cullinane before the primary), the 6’6″ Republican seems to garner more attention. The question remains, though, will Baker garner more votes than the 3–5 percent Republicans typically get in Boston’s predominantly black precincts.

At America’s Food Basket, a chance encounter with former Department of Children and Families Commissioner Angelo McClain yielded a cordial conversation. But would McClain, who served under Gov. Deval Patrick, cast a vote for the Republican?

“Me and my wife haven’t decided yet,” said McClean, now the head of the National Association of Social Workers.

Still, Baker’s frequent visits to businesses, bars and restaurants in Roxbury, Dorchester and Matttapan make good optics for a campaign that has effectively re-shaped the candidate’s images from the fiery Republican who channeled white male anger against the Patrick administration in the 2010 race to today’s Baker, who’s as at home pouring beers for patrons of the L Street Tavern as he is debating Coakley on state policy in numerous candidates forums.

Sunday afternoon, during a Greater Boston Interfaith Organization gubernatorial forum in South Boston, Baker and Coakley listened to a woman tell the story of losing her husband in a shooting, then were asked to pledge their support for anti-gun violence initiatives.

When called to speak, Baker strode past the podium and gave the woman a hug — a simple gesture of compassion that made for great optics. When Coakley’s turn to speak came, she too hugged the woman, but Baker had already beat her to the punch.

Throughout the campaign Baker has seized opportunities to connect with voters one-on-one — a strategy that seems to be at least earning him a second look from black voters. At America’s Food Basket in Mattapan Square, Baker took the time to shake hands with checkout cashiers and baggers.

“He’s pretty comfortable being in the neighborhood,” McClain observed.

At a McDonald’s in the square, he stopped in for coffee. Outside the Le Foyer Bakery, he chatted with Watchtower-bearing Jehova’s Witnesses, who are discouraged from voting by their faith.

Before leaving Mattapan Square, Baker paused for a moment to announce an endorsement from local activist Jean Claude Sanon, who last year ran for the District 5 City Council seat currently held by Tim McCarthy.

Standing in front of Le Foyer Bakery, Baker gave a stinging critique of the last eight years of under Democratic Governor Deval Patrick, noting the alleged job-fixing scheme in the state’s Probation Department, problems with the Department of Children and Families and the rollout of the state’s medical marijuana law, which he called “a disaster.”

“How have things been for the last seven or eight years?” he said. “Do you really think things are going better?”

At the South Boston forum, Baker’s took a different tack, arguing that having a Republican in the governor’s office would make the Legislature function better, recalling the administrations of governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci.

“It forced everybody to raise the quality of their game and play to a higher standard,” he said.

With his frequent urban appearances, and the more than $6 million in attack ads directed at Coakley, Baker may be making inroads with urban voters. A WBUR/MassINC poll released last Wednesday showed Baker with a one-point lead over Coakley in Boston and 27 other cities in the state that normally give Democrats a healthier lead. Patrick beat Baker by 22 points in those communities back in 2010.

And a Boston Globe poll released last Thursday put Baker ahead by 9 points. Coakley dismissed the Boston Globe poll as an outlier. But Baker Campaign Manager Jim Conroy said the poll is evidence Baker is pulling Democrats away from Coakley.

“This latest poll further evidences a clear trend of growing bipartisan support for Charlie Baker,” Conroy said in a press statement.