PETER LUCAS: Warren’s new best buddy — Mayor Marty Walsh

It’s not what U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren can do for Marty Walsh, it’s what Marty Walsh can do for Elizabeth Warren.

That is what’s behind Warren’s endorsement of the Boston mayor over Tito Jackson, a fellow Democrat — and an African-American — in Boston’s upcoming mayoral election Nov. 7.

Walsh, seeking a second term, did not and does not need Warren’s support. He is a shoo-in over Jackson, a Boston city councilor who has run an underfunded and underenergized campaign that never got off the ground. Walsh will bury Jackson.

Warren does not bring many votes to Walsh in Boston that he does not already have. On the contrary, Walsh may even lose some support among African-Americans who are dazed and resentful that Warren would abandon and oppose a minority candidate who campaigned for her in the past.

“I love Tito,” Warren said, as she twisted the knife into Jackson’s back at an event at Doyle’s Café in Jamaica Plain last week. “But Marty has shown us for four years what it is that he can accomplish and what it is going forward that he is determined to accomplish. So, I am here for Marty.”

Why did Warren, a progressive Democrat, take the highly unusual step of intervening in a Boston election between two fellow Democrat progressives, and turn her back on Jackson, the minority candidate?

The cynical thinking goes that alienated black voters will have nowhere to go in 2018 and will end up voting for Warren, or stay home. The risk is worth the gain.

Warren is seeking re-election in 2018 and may need all the support she can get, particularly if her Republican opponent is someone like Beth Lindstrom of Groton, a highly regarded GOP operative.

Lindstrom, who was a cabinet official under Gov. Mitt Romney, is seeking to become the first woman nominated for the U.S. Senate by the Massachusetts GOP. A Lindstrom candidacy would cause Warren some unanticipated problems, like running against a younger and accomplished woman.

Walsh, a former labor leader and state representative, is a big-city mayor with a high-powered political machine at his disposal that can come to Warren’s assistance. Which it now will.

He can campaign for Warren. He can turn out the city vote for Warren. He can also raise campaign money, although Warren appears able to do that well enough on her own.

Walsh, with all his labor and Statehouse connections, can also bring those two elements into play for Warren.

Walsh, in accepting Warren’s endorsement, already began campaigning for her. Heaping praise on Warren, he said her re-election was the “No. 1 priority here in Massachusetts.”

What does Walsh get in return? He gets and IOU from Warren, her gratitude and her support if he decides to run for higher office. Warren could get re-elected in 2018 and run for president in 2020. And who knows? In this divided and crazed nation she could even get elected.

Walsh is not like his predecessor, the late Boston Mayor Tom Menino who was content to spend 20 years as mayor. It was the only job he ever wanted, and he loved it.

Walsh has political ambitions, and may want to run for higher office one day — say governor in 2022 — when Gov. Charlie Baker completes his second term, presuming he is re-elected in 2018. Warren’s support in a statewide fight would come in handy.

And what of poor Tito Jackson? Warren was almost condescending in her remarks about Jackson, implying that it was nothing personal, but only business. “I love Tito,” she said. “And have worked with Tito for a long time, and I hope that Tito is going to have an important role going forward in public service.”

Translated, that means that there is a good job waiting for Tito if he behaves himself and does not go on the attack against Warren for turning against him.

Jackson appears to have gotten the message. While several black leaders were critical of Warren, Jackson’s tone was much more moderate and forgiving.

“I respect Sen. Warren and the work that she does,” Jackson told the Boston Herald. “I don’t agree with her, and I think she is wrong in this race.”

Instead of criticizing Warren, Jackson attacked General Electric and (softly) Walsh. Jackson said, “I’ve considered Elizabeth my friend over the years. But Mayor Walsh is writing a $25 million taxpayer-funded check to General Electric while simultaneously cutting school budgets. That’s not how progressive mayors should act. I’m running for mayor so that the whole city is represented, not just CEOs and shareholders.”

Jackson knows how to lose.

luke1825@aol.com