WASHINGTON (WHDH) - Boston’s former mayor flew down to Washington D.C. on Tuesday morning to be sworn in as part of President Joe Biden’s cabinet.
Vice President Kamala Harris swore Marty Walsh in a brief ceremony just before 6 p.m. Walsh is the first card-carrying union member to hold the job in nearly 50 years.
RELATED: Senate confirms Marty Walsh to be Labor secretary
In a 68 to 29 vote, the Senate confirmed Walsh to be Labor secretary Monday evening, elevating the former union boss to oversee the federal department in charge of workplace conditions, benefits, and rights.
Walsh first joined the Laborers’ Union Local 223 at age 21. By 2011, he had risen to lead the Boston Trades Council, a group that represents ironworker and electrician unions, among others.
He admitted to having mixed feelings about leaving behind the city that took his parents in when they emigrated from Ireland and where he rose from a Dorchester triple-decker to his dream job as mayor in 2014.
“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “Thanks for everything by the way.”
Walsh going to work for a boss who declared himself the most pro-labor and pro-union president ever.
But even arriving in the nation’s capital, Walsh could not leave Boston completely behind.
New Englanders getting off his flight with him all wishing him luck in his new job.
Those closest to the former mayor shared the big moment of his swearing-in. His longtime partner Lorrie Higgins was there with him holding a bible that once belonged to her great-grandmother.
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