2025 Boston Mayoral Race

BronsonShore said:
Also, the new, unofficial seal they are using appears to have been created by AI, as it has no recognizable Boston buildings.
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OMG! Not just the buildings. Check out the text on the border. "BOSTON of MASSCHUSETTTSSSS", and some hallucinated runes.

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Has anyone else even hinted at interest in jumping into the race? Kraft's missteps so far are so pathetic it doesn't seem like there's any way he'll ever gain any traction the way this is going. And it would suck to have an election that's pretty much over before the start of Spring. Even Menino's re-election bids required him to break more of a sweat in the early going than this before he'd safely sewn up his constituencies, if for no other reason than he usually drew someone on the Council who had demonstrated prior ability to run a competent campaign in the same city. Wu needs a qualified challenger if for no other reason than to keep her honest for the next 9 months before Election Day. This just isn't trending like it's any challenge at all.
 
BronsonShore said:
HO. LEE. SHIT.

This is apparently an actual fundraiser invitation for the Kraft campaign. I'm sure I'm not going to have to tell anyone on this board what's wrong with it. He is a fraud, he is cooked, and this race is over.
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www.bostonglobe.com

‘Skyline-gate’: Private group’s invite for Kraft campaign fundraiser includes graphic of Midtown Manhattan - The Boston Globe

The invitation, which included a graphic of a skyline with buildings resembling the Chrysler and Empire State buildings, was not designed by the Kraft campaign, according an event organizer.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
"Skyline Gate" is actually kinda funny.
 
So now Thomas O'Brien of HYM is considering jumping in the race, which can only been seen as a signal that the anti-Wu donors are already abandoning Kraft and searching for someone else.

www.bostonglobe.com

Another challenger for Michelle Wu? Developer Thomas O’Brien considering jump into mayoral race. - The Boston Globe

The builder behind the redevelopment of Suffolk Downs and the Government Center Garage worked in City Hall under Mayor Menino.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

I would expect O'Brien to be a better candidate than Kraft -- because Kraft is genuinely one of the worst candidates I've ever seen -- though I still can't see him building a winning coalition. That's especially true if, as this article indicates, the central tenet of his campaign to make things easier for real estate developers. But, dagnabbit, these rich white guys who don't really live in Boston are just going to keep trying until they take back what's rightfully theirs!
 
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That's my take as well. If over the next 8 months she's checked on some of her more "indulgent" or divisive points, they will have done their job and we will all be the better for it. Much easier to outflank centrists from the perceived outer limits than vice versa.
 
KCasiglio said:
If his campaign gets Wu to make things easier for real estate developers that would be a big win.
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In certain ways, sure. Removing parking minimums and rewriting the zoning code would make thngs easier for real estate deveopers, and Wu is actively doing both. She also overhauled the personnel on the ZBA to make it much more hospitable to a lot of gentle density developments in the outer neighborhoods that had frequently been rejected under previous administrations. And her focus on improving transit has plenty of positive secondary effects on real estate development. Unquestionably she has done things to make it easier to develop certain types of real estate.

But what the developers like O'Brien really want her to do is eliminate affordable housing initiatives. And I would not call that a big win at all.
 
BronsonShore said:
In certain ways, sure. Removing parking minimums and rewriting the zoning code would make thngs easier for real estate deveopers, and Wu is actively doing both. She also overhauled the personnel on the ZBA to make it much more hospitable to a lot of gentle density developments in the outer neighborhoods that had frequently been rejected under previous administrations. And her focus on improving transit has plenty of positive secondary effects on real estate development. Unquestionably she has done things to make it easier to develop certain types of real estate.

But what the developers like O'Brien really want her to do is eliminate affordable housing initiatives. And I would not call that a big win at all.
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Absolutely, taking on the zoning behemoth is a massive undertaking that Wu doesn't enough credit for from housing folks (tbh, I think that's mostly because it's not done). I would personally disagree on the affordable housing initiatives, but it's not the hill I'll die on either. I think if lowering the requirements gets you more units built you're winning in the aggregate, but again, it's something I'll happily concede on to a mayor that's making moves on parking minimums and zoning. I'd really like her to walk back the net-zero emissions requirement. People living in housing of any type in the inner core are going to have a lower carbon footprint than someone out in the burbs. A case of "JustBuildIt", if you will.


EDIT: Also, this guy is Bill O'Brien's brother!? Man the football folks are really animated by White Stadium. /s
 
BronsonShore said:
But, dagnabbit, these rich white guys who don't really live in Boston are just going to keep trying until they take back what's rightfully theirs!
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To Thomas' credit, his primary residence is in his own building, The Sudbury. Surely he has himself a mansion or ten elsewhere, but he's working in the city a good amount and by that measure I have to imagine he actually resides in his condo on a regular basis.
 
kz1000ps said:
To Thomas' credit, his primary residence is in his own building, The Sudbury. Surely he has himself a mansion or ten elsewhere, but he's working in the city a good amount and by that measure I have to imagine he actually resides in his condo on a regular basis.
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I imagine you're right. And, given his prior work in the city government, I would hope he actually has lived in the city for more than just the past two years since the Sudbury opened. It's unfair of me to paint him with the Kraft carpet-bagger brush at this point.

But given that its been 26 years since he worked for the city government, I do genuinely wonder whether when was the last time he's stepped foot in places like Grove Hall, Mattapan, or Fields Corner.
 
www.bostonglobe.com

Wu vs. Kraft: Mayor contenders joke and spar at St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast - The Boston Globe

Politicians and Boston locals enjoyed musical performances, speeches, and plenty of roasts at the annual event, a Boston political institution for decades.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
“Josh, welcome to the race, welcome to Boston,” Wu said, repeating her dig at her challenger for only recently moving within the city’s boundaries.
“Josh is running as a man of the people, and it’s true, he is currently living in subsidized housing, a $2 million condo subsidized by [his] dad’s company,” she continued, drawing loud laughs, groans, and applause from the audience.
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This is not good.
www.bostonglobe.com

Facing bike lane backlash and a reelection challenge, Mayor Wu is changing her tone on public transit - The Boston Globe

As Wu runs for reelection, she says the city moved too fast on street changes and even reversed some plans, leaving cyclists, bus riders, and transit advocates worried that her commitment is dimming.
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“It matters when small businesses say that they can’t keep their doors open because all of their parking for employees is gone, and we didn’t really worry about that too much and just wanted to move as quickly as possible,” Wu said.
The city’s new review follows intense lobbying from Back Bay business leaders, notably wealthy businessman Jay Cashman, who has supported Wu in the past but donated $1,000 to her rival, Kraft, shortly after the nonprofit leader entered the race. (Cashman said the amount was “like nothing” and that he has not decided whom he will support.)
After Cashman learned last summer a bike lane would be installed in front of his mansion on Dartmouth Street, he had a team of researchers examine the city’s bike network and concluded the existing lanes were “improperly built” and that the city did not have a master plan guiding construction. Earlier this year, Cashman launched an organization called Pedal Safe Boston, which urged the mayor in a letter to “halt all ongoing and planned bike construction” until a master plan is in place.
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bankerandtradesman.com

Wu Pledges Office Conversion Expansion

The city will also launch its first-ever anti-displacement program, Mayor Michelle Wu said during her annual State of the City address.
bankerandtradesman.com bankerandtradesman.com

Other than a $150 million initiative to help folks pay for heat pumps and the like, the biggest development news from the mayor's big annual speech last night was a pledge to open the office-to-residential conversion program to colleges and employers (think: big hospitals) for dorms and workforce housing.
 
www.bostonherald.com

Josh Kraft scores first major endorsement in his bid for Boston mayor

Longtime philanthropist Josh Kraft has notched his first major endorsement since launching his campaign for Boston mayor against the incumbent Michelle Wu, who has benefited from a slew of endorsem…
www.bostonherald.com www.bostonherald.com
Kraft’s campaign announced today that the first-time political candidate has scored a key union endorsement from the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA), comprising 18 Boston locals that collectively represent 700 members.

His campaign also announced the backing of the New England Dock and Marine Council, which represents 14 ILA locals and other union affiliates in New England — which brings an additional 600 members who joined the Boston locals in their backing of the son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
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