Vice President Joe Biden Congratulates Wrong Marty Walsh After One Wins Boston Mayoral Election

by UInterviewNovember 7, 2013, 12:00 amNews >

Vice President Joe Biden called to congratulate Boston Mayor-elect Marty Walsh on Tuesday only to find himself on the phone with the wrong Marty Walsh.

According to Walsh, who is a Democratic political consultant in Massachusetts, saw the Mayor-elect win the race and immediately began receiving congratulatory phone calls that were meant for the other Marty Walsh.

When he was first connected to the White House operator, Walsh quickly explained that he was not the Marty Walsh they were looking for. Mere seconds later, his phone rang again – it was Vice President Biden.

“It was Vice President Biden and he went right into it. He said, ‘Marty, congratulations you son of a gun.’ He said, ‘You did it!’ I said, Mr. Vice President, thank you very much, but you have the wrong Marty Walsh,” Walsh told USA Today.

According to Walsh, Biden laughed, and joked, “Well, at least I got a Marty Walsh in Boston.”

Walsh then directed him to the Mayor-elect. Vice President Biden was not the only one to make the mistake. Walsh says he was congratulated by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Rep. Debby Wasserman Schultz, who serves as chairwoman for the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
This mix up has occurred multiple times as both Marty Walsh’s live in Boston and work in the political arena. In 2006, Walsh worked on Sen. Edward Kennedy’s campaign and was mentioned in his victory speech. Walsh says that Mayor-elect Walsh told him that his mother had thought the Senator was talking about him.

“I remember Marty now-the-mayor-telling me, ‘My mother was so proud of me.’ He said, ‘I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was the other Marty Walsh,” Walsh told USA Today.

Biden has not released a comment about the funny accident, but he did make reference to it on his official Vice President Twitter account on Thursday for his ‘Throwback Thursday’ post.

The photo shows a significantly younger Biden on the phone at his desk. He captioned the photo, “Any other Marty Walshes out there? We’d love to hear from you…”

Mayor elect Walsh took Biden’s lead and also addressed the mix up in a ‘Throwback Thursday’ post on Twitter. The Mayor elect posted a photo of himself with Biden himself taken a few years ago.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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