Politico reports Josh Kraft will announce he's running for mayor against Michelle Wu this fall.
What are his stands on issues? Guess we'll find out next month.
If nothing else, it sets up an interesting dynamic around soccer, since Kraft's family is, of course, hankering to build a soccer stadium in Everett. If he opposes Wu's plans to build a soccer stadium (and high-school sports, except for football) stadium in Franklin Park, would he be doing it because he really cares about the issues raised by nearby residents or because he wants to drum up more business for the family stadium in Everett? Similarly, can Wu raise issues about the Everett stadium when it would be built by her main opponent (not that Ed Flynn isn't running)?
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Comments
Oh, great. Another rich white
By anon
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 5:15pm
Oh, great. Another rich white guy that was born on 3rd base...just what we need.
Graduating from the Rivers School
By Giordana
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 6:29am
... might not be the best preparation for someone applying for a job that includes leading the Boston Public Schools.
$63K Tuition
https://www.rivers.org/admission/tuition--financia...
... Whiter than Weston's school district
https://projects.propublica.org/private-school-dem...
You do realize
By Chester J Lampwick
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 7:25am
That Wu worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group and went to Harvard, right? If we have to have a battle between the two elites I'd pick Kraft. Why? Well, Wu clearly is funded by some money we are not aware of as far as agendas go, some we are, and I'd rather go directly to the source of who's running things than wonder.
You mean she got into Harvard
By Kinopio
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 9:27am
You mean she got into Harvard based on her own intelligence and hard work? And how is she an elite? You are comparing a trust fund brat son of a billionaire to someone who earned her own way and lives in a modest house in Roslindale(no offense to that neighborhood, but it is not "elite").
And Josh Kraft is funded by Jim Davis, another billionaire who kisses Trump's fat ass.
As a Rozzident -
By ParticleMan
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 12:20pm
No offense taken.
All this does is make me want to work for Wu's campaign this year. Something I can actually do to take direct action at limiting the power of billionaires.
Hear! Hear!
By Frelmont
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 10:06am
Hear! Hear!
"clearly is funded by some money we are not aware of"
By TiminSouthie
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 10:14am
Clear to the voices in your head? Take the tinfoil off.
Lotta dark money coming in
By THE_WIZ
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 5:45pm
From Orchids of Asia. Reverse round trip.
Krafts gotta go.
All of ‘em.
…Or do like a celebrity death match with some of the lions in the Kennedy fam. Of course we may have to exhume a couple but thats show business, right?
That Bob keeps getting ixnayed from the hall of fame is poetry.
Lol
By Anon
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 6:41pm
Ask the football ops team, the krafts do not spend money.
All for open and fair elections. The more the merrier on the ballot.
Bob is an absolute creep
By Steeve
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 6:47pm
Bob is an absolute creep
https://x.com/OmarKelly/status/1221239879264239616
Is this a variable you
By Ben
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 7:06pm
Is this a variable you incorporate into all your voting decisions?
Yes
By Steeve
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 11:52am
Yes
Wu received most of her
By anon
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 7:25pm
Contributions last election from out of state. Which is odd. Warren is the same, not as odd for a high profile senator.
Two thumbs up in a circle.
By Frelmont
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 10:08am
Two thumbs up in a circle.
Welcome to campaign finance!
By lbb
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 10:51am
That's not unusual for elections of significance. These days it's a purely podunk election that doesn't get out of state money.
No it isn't, not even slightly.
Local money preferred George
By Frelmont
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 9:47pm
Out of state money was interested in Wu not Boston.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/07/metro/puert...
Thumbs...
By Friartuck
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 8:16pm
Up
Hmm…
By MHScott
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 7:42pm
A billionaire nepo-baby from Chestnut Hill, whose dad is a friend and donor of Trump’s or the smart, approachable, progressive and accomplished leader who worked for Mayor Menino…
I’m sticking with Wu.
You will not fund a dumber
By Kinopio
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 9:29am
You will not fund a dumber group than working class people who keep electing trust fund brat billionaires who's only goal is to exploit the average American and suck every penny out of them and work them to death.
Maybe he should play powerball instead
By BostonDog
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 7:42pm
The last time an incumbent mayor lost was in 1950 and that mayor had spent time in federal prison during their term. (Ignoring Janey.)
It's possible for Kraft to win. But extraordinarily unlikely.
No. He needs to run as a
By anon
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 9:01pm
No. He needs to run as a republican. And people who are tired of progressivism being totally unchecked in Boston will vote for him. He won’t win, but it will send a clear message.
Why not?
By FakeBostonCharlie
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 8:25am
Josh can win the Dapper O'Neil vote. Stranger things have happened.
And his Pa can put in appearances at local AMP's just to lighten things up. Bob, keep your robe on.
No smart person is "tired of
By Kinopio
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 9:32am
No smart person is "tired of progressivism". Are you tired of having the best schools in the country? They'd rather be poor than in the state with the highest incomes? I don't see them traveling to Alabama when they need a hospital the way people travel around the world to Boston's hospitals.
He won't win either way
By Residente
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 12:36pm
So maybe your plan is better.
Good luck/riddance
By Ari O
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 9:27pm
In 1997, Menino was popular enough that no one ran an organized campaign against him. 29% of people still voted for someone else (or blanked their ballot, I assume). To be fair, to that point Tommy hadn't put in any bike lanes to create pearl clutching in Westie and Florian Hall, and it was also helpful that he was a white man (albeit an Italian). So Michelle will have an opponent, but she's also run five citywide campaigns and won 64% of the vote against Anissa (and more votes than any candidate since Ray Flynn in 1983). And Kraft likely won't have a primary to turn people out in; good luck building a local campaign from the ground up.
As Adam points out, it will be interesting to see what he campaigns on. A soccer stadium in Everett instead of Boston and … more crime (fewest murders since 1957 and pretty much the safest city in America)? What is Bob going to write a check to cover a bunch of people's property taxes that Nick Collins shat all over? Hell the T is running better even though the mayor doesn't have anything to do with that.
Maybe he threads the needle and gets 42%. I'd take the under.
Menino wasn't all loved
By BostonDog
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 11:04pm
I remember there being a quiet buzz that maybe Menino's day was due although it never came close to that. But Menino seemed more vulnerable than Wu so that's saying something.
I'm guessing Kraft is getting on the ballot entirely to plant the seed for a run for a higher office down the road.
There's only one way to gauge political support
By Waquiot
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 11:32am
You've hit the nail on the head about 1997. I don't know if I'd vote for Kraft, and I at this stage I wouldn't be putting money on him even coming close, but having unopposed candidates, even ones I like, annoys me. Having a contested election is a very good thing.
Kraft could build some kind of base off of the oddball coalition of areas Wu has pissed off- old timers in West Roxbury and the Grove Hall folks annoyed by her pushing the Franklin Park stadium without meaningful consultation, with an added dash of Blue Hill Avenue folk unhappy with the coming rebuild. It probably won't get him close to 50%, but perhaps the results will remind Wu that she is not the Empress yet.
Which is easier to get to,
By Chris77
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 2:24pm
Which is easier to get to, Everett or White Stadium?
Everett is a shorter walk from a T station
By Ron Newman
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 4:19pm
at Sullivan Square. White Stadium is a substantial uphill walk from Green Street station.
I sense
By anon
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 8:26pm
Maybe that he knows he cannot possibly win (I mean, these types are self absorbed and largely clueless but he has to have people who have done the research, right?), but is just positioning himself to later run for a different office.
Gets some name recognition in the political sphere, continues the charade that he lives in and knows anything about Boston/Massachusetts, uses it to underpin a run for Senate or maybe yet another federal theft agency Idiot Amin makes up in the next few years.
He has, after all, been laying the groundwork for this for a while, we all saw it. Something bigger is at stake.
There is
By anon
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 8:44pm
some hope for this City.
Not really.
By Residente
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 12:36pm
He won't win, but maybe he can influence the system in some way.
Burn his money
By Bostoneer
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 9:04pm
I'd say, let him burn his money. He's a terrible reactionary, so probably better to pour a bunch of money into a lost cause than something he could actual make an impact on.
The guy runs nonprofits. He’s not a reactionary.
By Jiggles
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 8:49am
Who are you thinking of? His Dad?
Ditto
By emac
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 9:05am
How is he reactionary? If anything he’s a nobody whose credentials are his rich daddy and some time running the Boys & Girls Club.
(Reminds me of Councilor Murphy and her ill-fated Clerk run. Murphy’s credentials were “I have none, but…” which was good for a 19 point loss.)
He’s got my vote
By FenwayFrank
Tue, 01/21/2025 - 11:11pm
He’s got my vote if he can come up with a better housing plan.
In 2024, Boston completed fewer units than Asheville, NC. Why is that acceptable?
Weird comparison, cite?
By Jeff F
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 3:00am
Are you sure that you’re not seeing 2024 numbers including homes made re-inhabitable after repair? Asheville got smashed by Hurricane Helene in September. Feds have sent them almost $2B for recovery so far. Hard to imagine the city saw a net increase in new housing last year when they lost nearly 9000 units in the flood. Also found local news reports about some planned housing projects getting suspended post-Helene because the developers all of a sudden realized that its a bad idea to build in a floodplain (ie 9% of Asheville).
Thanks for asking
By FenwayFrank
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 6:14pm
Sure! The numbers came from Jonathan Berk, but I can’t seem to find his original post, so the numbers below are from my own research on my phone:
Asheville, NC Total Units: 3,926
Source: constructioncoverage.com/research/cities-building-the-most-multi-family-housing#results
(Search Asheville, then add single family + multi family)
Boston, MA Total Units: 3,575
Source: bostonglobe.com/2024/12/31/business/boston-bpda-board-development-housing-projects/
(Cannot use Construction Coverage stats since Boston’s is aggregated by metro area).
Although you raise a good point about the completion of some of these units being in doubt because of the hurricane, these statistics predate the hurricane, because, like most municipalities, Asheville’s fiscal/reporting year ends in July 2024. You can also compare Asheville’s 2023 stats to see 2024 is not an anomaly.
Regardless, this is a major policy failure that lies squarely across the shoulders of Boston, Mayor Wu included. If Josh Kraft has a better plan than the status quo, I’ll vote for him.
Interesting, but Globe analysis not all that anti-Wu
By Jeff F
Thu, 01/23/2025 - 4:59pm
I appreciate the refs. However, a few key observations from that Globe analysis indicate that much of last year’s approval downturn is not wholly due to policy failure from City Hall, as you assert. Firstly, 2024’s economic woes were remarkable, and this exerpt implies that there was falloff in proposals, rather than a disproportionate drop-off in approvals:
Additionally, the Globe analysis indicates that the slowdown may owe less to the effectiveness of Wu’s policies, but rather a lack of support from the Legislature to let the mayor actually implement them (yet another home-rule nut tap from the Hill):
(Also, without getting too into the details here, a somewhat deeper review of the Asheville development story over the last few years showed me a post-covid low-oversight boom followed now by a lot of stalled/abandoned projects. Not a drama I’d want to see us copy.)
But just because the housing problems in Boston can’t be laid solely at the feet of the mayor doesn’t mean she’s completely off the hook. I’d be interested in hearing which policies implemented by Wu you think are the cause of the approval downturn.
the interesting thing
By deselby
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 2:48am
will be how many ward-level "activists" and old-school precinct vote-rustlers he buys.
Is he studying, engaging and flattering those local nabobs? The price will be high beyond the usual ass-kissing, because the fear of opposing an incumbent mayor runs deep in Boston no matter how sweet Wu seems.
I predict he'll peel off a few, not only in places like Ward 16 and 20, but among the Black leadership in Roxbury and Dorchester.
I hope he loses but don't count him out.
“No matter how sweet Wu seems”
By emac
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 9:01am
To that point: see what happens when you cross Wu. She’s got the Pressley machine too — what could be more fun than delivering a beat down to a carpetbagging nepo baby?
https://www.universalhub.com/2024/wu-fires-landmarks-commission-director...
Evidence mounts the Wu is a
By Frelmont
Thu, 01/23/2025 - 2:22pm
Evidence mounts the Wu is a shill in a progressive cloak.
Produce it
By lbb
Fri, 01/24/2025 - 10:30am
Produce it, then.
We don't need or want any
By Don't Panic
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 5:13am
We don't need or want any billionaire family members running things in Boston MA.
Ex-State Senator Diane Wilkerson or City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson would get more votes then him, and they both have arrest records.
Whoo!
By Frelmont
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 6:27am
Whoo!
That’s interesting.
Kraft has money Wu has an army of foot soldiers
By anon
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 7:39am
Wu has built a political machine comprised of foot soldiers and bicycle brigades; she will crush Kraft.
Why Not Foxborough
By anon
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 7:53am
I wonder if the Kraft Family plans to buy the Celtics but either way we have enough problems in this city. Change is welcome but not by another outsider who knows nothing about other city. We already have that problem with the Superintendent.
He doesn't even live here
By alkali
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 10:40am
He can run for office in whatever suburb he lives in rather than use Boston as his sandbox.
Yes he does
By emac
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 1:04pm
He bought a $2m condo in the North End, moved from Newton in 2023. Very relatable, no?! /s
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2025/01/21/josh-kraft-reportedly-...
Bike lanes?
By Chris77
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 2:22pm
Bike lanes?
Speaking...
By lbb
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 2:24pm
...of non sequiturs...
He has been doing his research
By hydeparkish
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 5:38pm
He joined a call I was on 6+ months ago that is to address the safety issues that are a concern in Boston's schools. So he probably is also researching other issues but he didn't talk at alk which was kinda weird but could be a good thing.
I hate how we only get one legitimate choice when voting!
Mayor Wu is doing an ok job but could be more committed to improving BPS by making changes and Sharing the long term facilities plan , so that's my biggest issue and could be how I decide who to vote for.
I am also sure others will run...
Why anyone would vote for someone with no
By Plen-T-Pak
Wed, 01/22/2025 - 7:30pm
...stake in the community is beyond me. We shall see.
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