Josh Kraft would have been higher off if he hadn’t made the minimize within the first place. Now he’s out of it anyway.
His father, Robert Kraft, billionaire proprietor of the New England Patriots, ought to have advised him that. As an alternative, he confirmed up at Josh’s marketing campaign headquarters on Tuesday evening for Josh’s election evening “victory.”
Some victory. Josh obtained clobbered.
If Josh have been on his father’s New England Patriots staff, he would have been fortunate to make the observe squad, not to mention grow to be Michelle Wu’s observe dummy.
Coming in a distant second, he was locked in a one-on-one grueling marketing campaign with Wu, a marketing campaign he was unable to win regardless of throwing some $3 million extra of his personal cash into it.
Tuesday’s preliminary election was a skirmish between a well-heeled political novice and a seasoned political professional, and the professional gained. For Wu, it was a exercise earlier than the sport, which is the election in November
Wu’s substantial victory in Tuesday’s preliminary election ensures her reelection. However she was going to win anyway, whether or not Kraft was in or out.
Kraft, at 58, might have been eighteen years older than Wu, however incumbent Wu had virtually eighteen years extra political and marketing campaign expertise than Kraft.
Points apart, how may a divorced, single man not too long ago relocated to Boston — with zero political expertise — run in opposition to a younger, articulate girl of coloration, who, regardless of a compassionate look, additionally occurs to be as powerful as nails?
“Boston can’t be purchased,” she mentioned to Kraft.
You may as well throw in that she is married and the mom of three, who campaigned carrying her current new child round whereas her husband was at dwelling caring for the opposite two.
If that weren’t an impediment sufficient for a first-time candidate like Kraft to beat, he needed to face the truth that Wu put collectively a political group that the late four-term Mayor Kevin White would envy.
And she or he has had time to do it, starting together with her first job working for Tom Meino in 2010, campaigning for Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2012, after which getting elected as an at-large candidate to the Boston metropolis Council 4 occasions in a row earlier than being elected mayor 4 years in the past.
White might have been “The loner in love together with his metropolis,” as one in every of his efficient marketing campaign slogans described him, however the metropolis seemed to be in love with Wu, given her lopsided victory.
Had Kraft studied the political scenario and been affected person, he may have run at giant for the Metropolis Council. From there, after a time period or two, he may have begun his marketing campaign for mayor, simply as Wu did.
In contrast to Kraft, all of Boston’s previous six mayors — White, Ray Flynn, Tom Menino, Marty Walsh, Kim Janey (appearing mayor) and Wu, held elected public places of work earlier than turning into mayor.
It’s not possible that Wu, given her reelection, will search a 3rd time period. It’s doable that she won’t even full a second time period, ought to different political alternatives come up.
Wu is a rising star within the Democrat Get together. And she or he is younger.
It’s notable that regardless of her standing, Wu didn’t win the endorsement of fellow Democrat Gov. Maura Healey, who should now take into account Wu a competitor.
Whereas each have stood as much as Trump over ICE raids in Boston and Massachusetts geared toward scoping up prison unlawful immigrants, Wu, mayor of a sanctuary metropolis, has snatched the headlines from the governor.
If she have been , Wu may run for governor in 2030 upon the completion of a second Healey time period if, as anticipated, Healey is reelected in 2026.
Or she may watch for a U.S. Senate seat to open. Sen. Eddie Markey, with fifty years in Washington, can be 80 years outdated if he’s reelected in 2026. Or he may drop out and make method for Wu.
So may Warren pack it in. Warren can be 81 if she runs once more in 2030.
Wu is half their age.
Make method for Wu.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas might be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com
Picture by Paul Connors/Media Information Group/Boston Herald
Josh Kraft aimed excessive and has now bowed out. (Paul Connors/Boston Herald)
