Josh Kraft, the son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, has dropped out of the Boston mayoral race after falling far behind incumbent Michelle Wu in the preliminary election earlier this week.
Kraft had enough votes to move through to the general election in November, but would’ve had a lot of ground to make up. Wu earned 72% of the preliminary vote, while Kraft got 23%. Domingos DaRosa and Robert Cappucci, who each earned under 3% of the vote, were eliminated from the race.
Kraft, the former CEO of Boston’s Boys & Girls Club, heads Kraft Family Philanthropies, which includes the team charities of the Patriots and MLS’s New England Revolution.
He announced he was suspending his campaign in an interview with local station WCVB Thursday night.
“When I kept looking at the next eight weeks, the negativity, and all that it was going to be about,” Kraft told the outlet, “I realized, ‘Wow, I can do more. I can make a better impact for the residents of the city of Boston.’” He said he would donate $3 million to local charities rather than spending it on a losing campaign. (Kraft spent over $5 million of his own money on his mayoral effort.)
Kraft made sports a key issue in his campaign. He repeatedly attacked Wu over her support for the public-private renovations of White Stadium for the city’s new NWSL expansion team, Boston Legacy FC.
Wu stood by the construction project even as costs for the city nearly doubled from $50 million to $91 million. Officials admitted the total number could be even higher. And when emails were uncovered in February showing favorable communications between Wu’s administration and team officials before the required public bidding window opened, Kraft pounced, calling the process “secretive and rigged.”
In April, a judge ruled in favor of the team and the city in a lawsuit brought by local opposition groups. Kraft called the renovations “a bad idea, regardless of the legal outcome today.” The group has continued fighting the ruling, calling for officials to review their alternative proposal.
With the new stadium delayed, the NWSL team will play at Gillette Stadium—owned by the Krafts—for its debut season in 2026.
Wu and Kraft were also at odds with another soccer project, the proposed renovations for a new home for the Kraft family’s MLS team, New England Revolution. Wu has been a critic of the team’s plans since before Kraft joined the race, Josh Kraft said he would have recused himself from negotiations if elected mayor.
