NoPrimaryTagMatch

Vice President Biden congratulates the wrong Marty Walsh

[fragment number=0]

Just after the Boston election results arrived Tuesday night, Martin Walsh’s cellphone rang. It was the vice president of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, offering his congratulations.

“You son of a gun, Marty!’’ he thundered. “You did it!’’

The only problem was, it was the wrong Marty Walsh.

Biden had called the Marty Walsh who is a former aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, now head of a government relations firm.

At the time, this Marty Walsh said, he was sitting on his couch with his wife in Natick, watching election results. Meanwhile, the other Marty Walsh, the one who had just been elected mayor of Boston, was at the Park Plaza Hotel, celebrating his victory.

Advertisement:

The less-famous Marty Walsh said he thanked Biden for his kind words, but told him that he had reached the wrong Marty. He offered to help the vice president track down the right one.

Marty Walsh said he also got jubilant voicemail messages from Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, and from R.T. Rybak, the mayor of Minneapolis and vice chairman of the committee.

Walsh said he expects he may field more calls from power players with the wrong number.

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

MICHAEL LEVENSON

Conversation

This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com