Days after emerging from a field of four Boston mayoral candidates with a nearly 50-point deficit between himself and the incumbent, Josh Kraft announced Thursday that he is dropping out of the race.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to suspend my candidacy for mayor of Boston,” said Kraft in a letter to supporters.
The non-profit leader’s exit from the race means Mayor Michelle Wu will face virtually no challenge to her bid for a second term in the November election.
The news was first made public in an exclusive interview with WCVB News.
“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. “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.”
Despite months of campaigning against Wu, Kraft failed to sway voters that he was the better choice. He went into Tuesday’s preliminary election with one poll showing him trailing Wu by some 50 percentage points.
In announcing his exit from the race, Kraft posted on Instagram that he would continue to work for Boston, “just as I have over the past three decades.” He pledged to donate $3 million from his remaining campaign resources “and additional funds” to help address what he described as the humanitarian crisis at Mass and Cass.
“Over the last couple of days, I’ve spoken with the Phoenix, an organization focused on recovery and building community, and folks from the Gavin Foundation, focused on substance abuse education, prevention and treatment programs,” he posted.
Kraft said he would release details in the coming weeks about partnering with those two organizations and others to “work towards setting up a recovery campus.”
Mayor Wu released a statement saying she respected Kraft’s decision and crediting him with caring about the city.
“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,” said Wu’s statement.
Erin O’Brien, a professor of political science at UMass Boston, called Kraft’s exit a strong coda to a campaign that had struggled for months to find its footing.
At the outset, she said, Kraft’s decision to challenge Wu “show[ed] the hubris of trying to enter [electoral politics] in a big-time political race,” O’Brien said. “Money and name recognition alone doesn’t always translate to voters.“
”Research shows first-time candidates generally lose, but they don’t usually do it on a stage this big,” she added. “The mistake for Josh Kraft was his campaign was on such a big stage and he didn’t have the experience for it. It also sort of shows you that [in] most of the rooms he walks into he’s been deferred to, and that’s very different than getting voters to rally behind you.”
Yet by pledging now to spend millions of dollars of his own money that he could have spent campaigning to address problems like homelessness, addiction, and prison reentry, O’Brien said, Kraft is exiting the campaign on an unexpectedly upbeat note.
“He goes out as a class act,” O’Brien said. “He doesn’t continue the attack ads and stuff like that. He leaves people saying, ‘He wasn’t the guy for mayor, but he’s a good guy, and I hope to see him in [the world of] New England policy moving forward.’”
Saraya Wintersmith covers Boston City Hall for GBH News and is the host of the “What Is Owed?” podcast.
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