Boston Mayor Michelle Wu took a victory lap Wednesday after trouncing Josh Kraft by a 48-point margin within the preliminary election, saying that her sweep of each ward was indicative of voters feeling town is shifting in the proper route.
Wu, flanked by her allies on the Boston Metropolis Council and state delegation, stated outdoors Metropolis Corridor that the preliminary outcomes “resoundingly” confirmed “that in Boston, wins can’t be bought” — a shot at Kraft, who poured tens of millions of his personal money into his marketing campaign however mustered simply 23% of the vote to her practically 72%, in accordance with unofficial election outcomes.
“We saw across every neighborhood residents double down on wanting Boston to be a home for everyone,” Wu stated at a marketing campaign press convention. “Across every ward, voters affirmed that the Boston we’re building is the Boston that we want to build, that we’re moving in the right direction and need to keep going.”
Kraft, by securing second place within the four-way preliminary, will transfer on to the November basic election as properly, albeit as a major underdog.
Wu gained each ward and neighborhood, together with a major win in Kraft’s precinct within the North Finish, the place he purchased a $2.5 million apartment in October 2023. Kraft had beforehand lived in Chestnut Hill earlier than shifting into the Boston apartment, and launched his mayoral marketing campaign in February.
The favored first-term progressive mayor additionally gained within the areas the place Kraft has targeted a lot of his criticism of the Wu administration, close to Mass and Cass the place town’s open-air drug market festers, and Franklin Park, the place town is shifting ahead with a controversial skilled soccer stadium rehab of White Stadium.
Kraft, a son of the billionaire New England Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft and longtime philanthropist, vowed Tuesday night time to remain within the race reasonably than droop his marketing campaign, regardless of being handed a virtually 50-point defeat.
His marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a Herald request for remark Wednesday.
Wu insisted that she wouldn’t develop into complacent after her resounding victory, saying that she would proceed to pound the pavement till November and concentrate on issues which have been plaguing residents throughout her first time period in workplace.
These points embrace a scarcity of inexpensive housing in Boston and the open-air drug use, dealing and crime that festers at and round Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, an space generally generally known as Mass and Cass.
“There’s a lot more work to do,” Wu stated. “We know these challenges didn’t happen overnight. Many of the hardest things that our families and residents are dealing with are national challenges that cities everywhere are trying to grapple with.”
Nonetheless, Wu stated her administration has made “historic progress” on housing, and “we know we’ve made progress on Mass and Cass.”
Wu, town’s first Asian and elected feminine chief, has been bolstered partly by her protection of town towards assaults from the Trump administration. She selected to hammer away on the Trump administration once more on Wednesday, whereas responding to criticism from Kraft that she’s been extra targeted on nationwide than native points.
“I have always only ever been interested in the work of our city,” Wu stated. “I, as an individual, naturally would love not to concentrate to the federal authorities. … However sadly we don’t have the posh of calling Donald Trump a distraction.
“Most Bostonians do not have the privilege of thinking about the situation in this way, because we don’t have millions or billions of dollars to protect against impacts when jobs are threatened, when lives are threatened, when our very identities are targeted,” the mayor stated.
At his election night time social gathering Tuesday night time, Kraft had stated, “Throughout this campaign, Mayor Wu has shown that she doesn’t want to talk about her record. She wants to talk about Donald Trump, and she wants to run against Donald Trump. She has tried to distract from her ineffectiveness on the issues that really matter to everyday Bostonians.”
Wu stated Wednesday, nonetheless, that “what is happening in D.C. is impacting every resident of Boston in their day-to-day lives” and likened the preliminary outcomes to a rebuke of the Trump administration.
The Metropolis of Boston has been within the crosshairs of the Trump administration over its sanctuary insurance policies, specifically the Belief Act, which limits native police cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Division of Justice sued town, Wu and the Boston police commissioner final week over its sanctuary legal guidelines.
“I think what we saw yesterday with the results, and certainly what I have heard across every neighborhood and in my conversations, particularly with communities who have been most targeted by this federal administration, is that we cannot let a wannabe authoritarian change how we take care of our residents in Boston,” Wu stated.
“Whether it’s a billionaire in D.C. or those locally who are trying to push us backward, Boston is going to keep moving forward, and we’re going to do so proudly, loudly, and in partnership with all of our communities,” she added.
Kraft, whose father has had a pleasant relationship with President Donald Trump up to now, has additionally attacked the president, saying at a union marketing campaign occasion final month that Trump has “stoked hatred and division throughout our country.”
Kraft has set information for spending in a Boston preliminary election in his bid to develop into the primary candidate to unseat a sitting Hub mayor since 1949. After his newest $3.5 million deposit final week, Kraft’s marketing campaign spending sits at a cool $5.5 million.
