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Josh Kraft, who heads up the philanthropic New England Patriots Foundation, may not officially be a candidate for mayor of Boston, but he’s making moves and holding talks that potentially indicate an eye on formalizing a 2025 campaign.
During a sit-down with a friend inside a Back Bay coffee shop on Monday, Kraft told him that he is “announcing in the fall,” adding, “We have the opportunity to do so much good.” Kraft’s conversation about what sounded like a mayoral run was overheard by another customer who relayed the details to CommonWealth Beacon.
“Josh Kraft is not currently a candidate for mayor and has no plans or timeline for any kind of an announcement,” Kraft spokesperson Anisha Chakrabarti said in an emailed statement when asked about the conversation.
Kraft’s candidacy, if he follows through with the announcement, sets up a battle against Mayor Michelle Wu, who is expected to run for a second four-year term. The first woman and person of color elected to the top job, she has not yet made a formal reelection announcement.
But several blocks away from Kraft’s coffee chat, there’s an unequivocal sign of her reelection campaign, quite literally. The Corner Cafe Bakery, located in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, has a new sign on the side of its building, an update to the sign from her first campaign four years ago. Translated from Chinese characters into English, the new sign, paid for by her campaign committee, asks to support her reelection.
Her fundraising operation also has continued apace, and her campaign account has $1.5 million in the bank.
Kraft, who would have little trouble with raising money if he gets in and taps his family’s wealth, has also been making moves, both figuratively and literally. He moved into Boston’s North End neighborhood late last year after living in Newton and Brookline. A company linked to the Kraft family purchased a multimillion dollar condo in the area. Separately, Kraft assumed the chairmanship of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, a nonprofit based in Roxbury.
Kraft is also working with a political consulting firm, Keyser Public Strategies, the State House News Service reported Wednesday. One of the firm’s partners, Eileen O’Connor, chairs the board of MassINC, the parent organization that publishes CommonWealth Beacon. The firm’s bipartisan list of past and present clients includes former Gov. Charlie Baker and Senate President Karen Spilka.
Kraft registered in December to vote in Boston, and cast a vote in the March presidential primary. He has previously voted in both Democratic and Republican primaries, according to his voting history, which is publicly available.
Kraft’s sit-down in a coffee shop came a week after a poll hit Boston phones earlier this month. The text-message-based poll mostly focused on Wu and Kraft, and appeared to be testing potential campaign messages, as well as the favorability numbers for the pair and other public figures such as Gov. Maura Healey and Kraft’s father, Robert. CommonWealth Beacon obtained screenshots from the poll, which sought voter reaction to both positively and negatively framed statements about the two.
With Wu, the poll said she is “tackling Boston’s biggest challenges,” banning fossil fuels from new city buildings and doubling city contracts with minority-owned businesses. The poll highlighted Kraft’s time as CEO of the nonprofit Boys and Girls Clubs. Kraft is “not a career politician” and he will “bring people together to solve the big problems facing Boston,” the poll claimed.
The poll featured statements such as one saying Wu “broke her campaign promise to enact rent control” and “her elitist friends are making Boston a more expensive place to live.” As for Kraft, the poll asked respondents about a statement that he is the son of a billionaire “who handed him everything, including a job making charitable contributions from the family fortune.” It also asked about Kraft voting in Republican primaries and donating to Republican candidates, including conservatives who oppose abortion.
The poll also asked whether respondents would vote for Wu, Kraft, South Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, or North End restaurateur Jorge Mendoza Iturralde, who has said he plans a run for mayor.
When asked about the poll, a Wu political aide said it was not the mayor’s survey. A Kraft spokesperson declined to comment. The poll’s results were not available.
The topic of a potential mayoral challenge from Kraft, and his increasing visibility in Boston, recently came up while Wu took questions as part of a regular segment on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” show earlier this month. Jim Braude, one of the hosts, said he recently attended several events around the city, and “every event we went to, Josh Kraft was at…Do you talk to him?”
“Boston is a city where it is world-class, so much happening, but also small enough that I bet there were probably a hundred people who were at all three of those events with you,” Wu responded, before adding that she doesn’t have a personal relationship with Kraft.
This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
