2025 Boston Mayoral Race

I hear there's a $2M North End condo that juuuuust hit the market.


Seriously, though. He probably spent the last 36 hours phone triaging with donors and PAC's and heard "Not a dime!" enough times that it sunk in the only way he could continue was to light another million dollars of his own money on-fire to lose the general by 60. It was completely untenable. Every constituency that could've helped him eat into Wu's lead just flat-out stayed home in disgust the other day. Complete and total repudiation.
 
Could you imagine if it was "the real indian" vs Kraft vs Markey?

Edit: typo
 
www.bostonglobe.com

Mayor Michelle Wu set to be only candidate on general election ballot after city finishes recount, certifies results - The Boston Globe

Josh Kraft finished second in the preliminary election and then dropped out of the race. Third-place finisher Domingos DaRosa had hopped a recount would put him on the November ballot.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

Wu is officially unopposed in the general, as Kraft's dropout is formal so his name will not appear on the November ballot and third-place finisher DaRosa didn't make the 3000 vote minimum cutoff. Just like that it's all over.

What a pathetic ending to what could've been at least a *somewhat* check-on-power competitive election, had Kraft not scared away all other potential competent challengers this winter with his avalanche of dark and personal money before going on to run the most incompetent campaign the city has ever seen. While Wu probably wasn't going to be outright beaten by anyone this year, we're still worse off that she was never even tested a little bit.
 
Kraft's flameout is really kind of interesting. I was told by a political insider way back in July, '24, that somebody with very deep pockets was planning to run, and that the person had a background on issues that should make him fairly competitive when considering the funding levels the campaign would have. I didn't know this at the time, but he was obviously talking about Kraft, who did indeed look on paper like somebody who could have been somewhat more of a threat to Wu. But man was that an idiotically badly run campaign.
 
HenryAlan said:
a political insider
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This political insider might have been flying way too close to the sun! Was this person also a Brahmin? So out of touch with common people that they thought that Kraft was going to be popular?
 
as02143 said:
This political insider might have been flying way too close to the sun! Was this person also a Brahmin? So out of touch with common people that they thought that Kraft was going to be popular?
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Nope, to be more clear without revealing who it was, the person is more of an Irish catholic street fighter type of politician, who mixes that with extremely progressive positions. He was a Wu supporter, concerned about the threat represented by a moderate with deep pockets.
 
That Irish Catholic may need to go his political vision checked. Kraft reads as a fail-son. Perhaps they're correctly assessing that Wu has become fairly weak on the progressive front, but, Kraft is clearly not a moderate.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
www.bostonglobe.com

Mayor Michelle Wu set to be only candidate on general election ballot after city finishes recount, certifies results - The Boston Globe

Josh Kraft finished second in the preliminary election and then dropped out of the race. Third-place finisher Domingos DaRosa had hopped a recount would put him on the November ballot.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

Wu is officially unopposed in the general, as Kraft's dropout is formal so his name will not appear on the November ballot and third-place finisher DaRosa didn't make the 3000 vote minimum cutoff. Just like that it's all over.

What a pathetic ending to what could've been at least a *somewhat* check-on-power competitive election, had Kraft not scared away all other potential competent challengers this winter with his avalanche of dark and personal money before going on to run the most incompetent campaign the city has ever seen. While Wu probably wasn't going to be outright beaten by anyone this year, we're still worse off that she was never even tested a little bit.
Click to expand...
It's crazy to me that Healey ran unopposed in an open Dem primary for Governor and now Wu is running unopposed for her first re-election for Mayor. Say what you will about the candidates themselves, but uncontested elections are not good for democracy.

HenryAlan said:
Kraft's flameout is really kind of interesting. I was told by a political insider way back in July, '24, that somebody with very deep pockets was planning to run, and that the person had a background on issues that should make him fairly competitive when considering the funding levels the campaign would have. I didn't know this at the time, but he was obviously talking about Kraft, who did indeed look on paper like somebody who could have been somewhat more of a threat to Wu. But man was that an idiotically badly run campaign.
Click to expand...
The Kraft name was for sure more of a hindrance to him than a benefit; he came across as a spoiled nepo baby running on daddy's money. People in Boston love our local sports teams but not their owners, especially given some of Bob's, um, interesting actions since Myra died.
 
Kraft clearly ran an terrible campaign. I'll add "charisma-less."

But also, Wu won by the primary by lot because people seem to basically like her. In her normal mayoral duties, people seem to think she's doing a fine job (aside from the opinions of some entitled developers who expected more personal access).

And beyond her normal mayoral duties, this has been a crazy f'n year. The federal government has been trying to paint Boston as a crime-fill hellhole; send troops to take over South Station; cut off funding to major business and universities; and on and on. Boston feels under attack, and in that situation people tend to rally together behind whoever is in charge. She has that going for her. In Wu's specific case, she is competently standing up to federal government, as much as a mayor can. And just for optics, the most popular image of her this year is probably her with ashes on her forehead for Ash Wednesday, carrying her newborn into a Senate hearing room to defend Boston's reputation.

In simpler times, maybe Kraft would have done better. In 2025, I don't think he nor anyone else really stood a chance.
 
as02143 said:
That Irish Catholic may need to go his political vision checked. Kraft reads as a fail-son. Perhaps they're correctly assessing that Wu has become fairly weak on the progressive front, but, Kraft is clearly not a moderate.
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Your hindsight is certainly more accurate than what he was able to see 7 months before Kraft announced.

JumboBuc said:
The Kraft name was for sure more of a hindrance to him than a benefit; he came across as a spoiled nepo baby running on daddy's money. People in Boston love our local sports teams but not their owners, especially given some of Bob's, um, interesting actions since Myra died.
Click to expand...
Eh, he was talking about it 15 months before the election. He had no way to evaluate Kraft's campaign strategy (not in place) or skill set (not yet on display). He was likely looking at Kraft's experience with the Boys and Girls Club and the Urban League, and concluded that he was somebody who had a chance at capturing a decent slice of the voting public, particularly since he'd have the deep pockets to push the message. A better message and a more artful presentation would likely have overcome the kind of criticism you're presenting, and resulted in another 15 points, or enough to force Wu to further adjust her message.

I don't think Kraft would have won with a better campaign, but he could have done much better.
 
Kraft failed to read the moment after November 2024. Given national context and his father’s predilections, he is the exact wrong standard bearer for moderation in Boston.
 
Not so much sure that its hindsight on the fail-son part. It's exactly what people started saying as soon as Kraft announced. And, I've been hearing from progressives about Wu's failures - primarily starting in the reaction to the protests for Gaza and continuing down to development and transport policy.
 
RandomWalk said:
Kraft failed to read the moment after November 2024. Given national context and his father’s predilections, he is the exact wrong standard bearer for moderation in Boston.
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All of this is correct. But he didn't just fail to read the moment: he failed to read himself. He is not remotely capable of being elected mayor of Boston. But he didn't know that because he's never had to actually earn anything in his life, so he doesn't know what he's actually good at and bad at.
 
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