The heir to the legendary football dynasty is facing his beloved incumbent in the September 9 mayoral primary election in Boston.
Boston mayor Michelle Wu is playing against the heirs of the legendary football dynasty in the mayoral elections in Massachusetts, but her biggest opponent may be President Donald Trump.
Wu, the first woman and the city’s leader, is calling for a second term, as Boston has become the focus of Trump’s crackdown on democratic cities. She faces a challenge from Josh Kraft, the son of fellow Democrat and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
WU and Kraft are almost certain to advance to the November general election compared to two lesser known candidates in the city’s four-way September 9 primary. The other two candidates are retired Boston police officer Robert Capucci. Domingos Darosa, a community activist and former Pop Warner football coach.
So far, Woo has been a major lead in the race. An Emerson College survey published on September 5th found more than 50 points incumbents ahead of Kraft. The poll only captures snapshots in time, but if Election Day results reflect those numbers, critics say WU is likely to cruise for the second term in November
Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said USA Today Kraft will need “a tremendous performance” in the primary to change the race trend.
Let’s take a closer look at the two key candidates.
Who is Michelle Wu?
Wu, 40, who was first elected to lead Boston in 2021, has focused much of her campaign on local issues, including improving housing affordability.
But much of her momentum with voters has been driven by her pushback against the Trump administration’s city scrutiny. In March, WU spoke at a Congressional hearing, defending Boston’s sanctuary urban policy.
Shortly afterwards, her support began to rise. During the February-September polls, Emerson saw a 30% increase in those planning to vote for WU.
“We’ve seen a lot of people living in the world,” said Mary Anne Marsh, a local Democratic political analyst.
More recent actions by the Trump administration could further strengthen Wu ahead of the election.
A few days before the primary election, the Department of Justice sued the WU and the city with a law prohibiting law enforcement from assisting law enforcement in enforcing citizen immigrants. The lawsuit follows similar cases in recent weeks against cities in New York City, New Jersey and Los Angeles.
In a statement, Wu called the lawsuit an “unconstitutional attack.”
Who is Josh Craft?
The 58-year-old Kraft, who leads the charity of the Craft Family, a family nonprofit, positioned himself from the start as a business-friendly candidate in the race. He was CEO of Boys and Girls Club in Boston for over a decade.
Like WU, he is focusing his campaign on local issues, opposed to the construction of more bike lanes in the city and plans to turn the old public school facility White Stadium into a new professional women’s soccer team home. The team is scheduled to play their first season at Gillette Stadium, owned by Craft Group.
Kraft advocates housing policies to make it easier for developers to build and criticize WU more quickly for local schools and handling public safety issues.
However, these topics have not shaking voters much as much as concerns about Trump.
“We have made the threat of democracy the best issue in the city and taking on Trump to Woo on these issues has given her a kind of different opponent,” Kimball said of the Emerson poll. “Crafting is almost an afterthought.”
