Joe Biden calls to congratulate wrong man in Boston mayoral race

Eric Pfeiffer
·Reporter

To paraphrase the vice president, getting a call from Joe Biden is a pretty big deal. So, you can understand Marty Walsh’s excitement and surprise when he received a call from Biden, congratulating him on winning Tuesday night’s mayoral race in Boston.

There’s just one problem: Biden called the wrong Marty Walsh.

As the Cape Cod Times explains, Biden, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak all placed calls to Walsh, while intending to reach the other Marty Walsh, a state representative who won Boston’s first open mayoral race in 20 years.

It turns out the mistake, while hilarious, is somewhat understandable. After all, non-mayor Marty has been involved in Democratic politics as well, formerly serving as a staffer for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

“We've had this for the past 20 years happening back and forth,” Walsh told the paper. “Marty tells a funny story from 2006 when Kennedy thanked me from the stage and his mother thought it was for him.”

Walsh says he first received a phone call Tuesday night from a White House phone operator. He told the operator that he was not the same Marty Walsh they were looking for. Nonetheless, Walsh’s phone rang again. On the other line was Vice President Biden.

"You son of a gun,” Biden reportedly told Walsh . “You did it!”

So, what did Walsh say in response to the errantly enthusiastic veep? Well, first he offered to track down the right phone number, and then he offered Biden another form of personal expertise.

“If you need a reservation in the city of Boston, I can probably get you any reservation you want,” Walsh said.

The confusion continued throughout the night, with Walsh later receiving enthusiastic voice mails from Wasserman Schultz and Rybak.

Still, Walsh told the Boston Globe he took all of the confusion in stride.

“We’re a dime a dozen in Boston,” he said. “I probably know eight Marty Walshes.”

And what did Walsh’s wife think while the pair was watching election night results on TV?

“She was laughing,” he said.