By Dan Murphy
Two days after coming in a distant second in the preliminary election, Josh Kraft officially ended his campaign for mayor of Boston on Thursday, Sept. 11, in a television interview.
“The last couple of days, since Tuesday, I’ve sat and listened to my team, our volunteers, my family, my friends, advisors, and it goes back to what I was saying at the beginning. I got into this to make an impact, as I’ve done my whole life, build a sense of community to make change for the greater good,” Kraft told WCVB-TV anchor Maria Stephanos in an exclusive interview. “When I kept looking at the next eight weeks, the negativity, and all that it was going to be about. I realized, wow, I can do more. I can make a better impact for the residents of the City of Boston.”
According to the city’s unofficial election results, incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu garnered nearly 72 percent of the ballot (66,398 votes) in the Sept. 9 election, while Kraft, a 58-year-old political newcomer who has worked in the nonprofit sector and is the son of New England Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, trailed her with just over 23 percent of the ballot (21, 324 votes).Domingos Darosa, a community activist, came in third in the four-way race, with under 3 percent of the ballot (2,409 votes), ahead of a perennial candidate for public office, Robert Cappucci, with just over 2 percent of the ballot (2,074votes).
In response to Kraft’s withdrawal from the race ahead of the Nov. 4 municipal election, Mayor Wu said in a statement: “I respect Josh’s decision and thank him for caring about our city deeply enough to want to make it better. We are going to continue over the next two months and beyond to keep engaging our community members about the critical work in front of us and how we keep making Boston a safe, welcoming home for everyone.”
Soon after announcing the end of his mayoral bid, Kraft wrote in a Sept. 11 post on Instagram that he would redirect his campaign funds, along with “additional funds,” to help fight the ongoing public health crisis at Mass and Cass.