2025 Boston mayoral election

Election in Massachusetts, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2025 Boston mayoral election was held on November 4, 2025, to elect the mayor of Boston. Because more than two candidates qualified for the ballot, a non-partisan primary election, known in Boston as a preliminary election, was held on September 9, 2025.[1] The election was held concurrently with the 2025 Boston City Council election. Incumbent mayor Michelle Wu successfully ran for re-election to a second term.[2]

Quick facts Candidate, Popular vote ...
2025 Boston mayoral election
← 2021
November 4, 2025
2029 →
 
Candidate Michelle Wu Josh Kraft
(withdrawn)[a]
Popular vote 78,997 1,128
Percentage 93.23% 1.33%
Mayor before election

Michelle Wu

 Elected mayor

Michelle Wu

Close

Wu and nonprofit executive Josh Kraft advanced to the general election after being the top-two finishers in a preliminary election (nonpartisan primary) held on September 9, with Wu receiving approximately 72% of the vote and Kraft receiving approximately 23%. However, on September 11 (two days after the preliminary election) Kraft announced he was ending his campaign and formally withdrew his name from the ballot on September 12. Kraft's requested withdrawal from the ballot was officially confirmed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office on September 15.[3][4][5] The withdrawal of a candidate from the general election ballot had been unprecedented in Boston since the city began using its current format for mayoral elections in 1951. Kraft's withdrawal left Wu as the only candidate on the general election ballot, making her the city's first mayor to be unopposed for re-election in a general election since Thomas Menino in 1997. Wu's general election vote share of more than 93% is the greatest received by any Boston mayoral candidate since 1874. The 78,997 votes Wu received in the general election are the second-most received by a Boston mayoral candidate since 1983. The vote share Wu received in the nonpartisan preliminary was the highest received by any candidate since Boston began holding nonpartisan primaries, and the number of votes she received in the preliminary was the third-most (surpassed only by John Hynes and James Michael Curley, both in 1951).

Candidates

Advanced to general election

Two candidates advanced to the general election after winning the two highest vote totals in the non-partisan preliminary election.[6]

Withdrew after qualifying for general election

Eliminated in preliminary election

Four candidates qualified for the primary ballot, with two advancing to the general election.[9] The following candidates qualified for inclusion on the preliminary election ballot and did not advance to the general election.[10]

Did not qualify for ballot

  • Alex Alex, restaurant worker (Independent)[21]
  • Kerry Augustin,[e] member of the Boston City Strong Commission (Democratic)[23]
  • Berry Homer Adams, HVAC technician (Independent)[22]
  • John Houton, attorney and former assistant corporation counsel of the Boston Treasury department (2011–2025)[24] (Democratic)[25]
  • Jorge Mendoza-Iturralde, restaurateur (Independent)[26]
  • Alex Winston, cryotherapy business owner (Independent)[22]

Declined

Primary election

Endorsements

Josh Kraft
Federal branch officials
State legislators
Local officials
Individuals
Labor unions
Michelle Wu
U.S. senators
U.S. representatives
State senators
State representatives
Boston city councilors
Other municipal officials
Individuals
Boston party chapters
  • Ward 3 Democratic Committee[52]
  • Ward 4 Democratic Committee[53]
  • Ward 5 Democratic Committee[f][55]
  • Ward 15 Democratic Committee[56]
  • Ward 19 Democratic Committee[57]
Labor unions
Organizations
Declined to endorse
Statewide officials
Local officials

Debates and forums

A forum hosted by political reporter Saraya Wintersmith of GBH News was held with Michelle Wu, Josh Kraft, Domingos ReRosa, and Alex Alex on May 15th.[84] On September 3rd, a forum with Michelle Wu and Josh Kraft was held.[85]

More information No., Date & Time ...
2025 Boston mayoral election primary debates and forums
 No.Date & TimeHostModeratorLinkParticipants
Key:
 P  Participant    A  Absent    N  Non-invitee    Out  Out of race  
Michelle Wu Josh Kraft Domingos DeRosa Robert Cappucci Alex Alex
  1[84]  May 15, 2025 Boston Democratic Ward Coalition Saraya Wintersmith YouTube P P P A P
  2[85]  September 3, 2025 Embrace Boston
Black Economic Council of Massachusetts
NBC10 Boston		 Latoyia Edwards YouTube P P N N Out
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Polling

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size[g]		 Margin
of error		 Kerry
Augustin		 Robert
Cappucci		 Domingos
DaRosa		 Jorge Mendoza-
Ituralde		 Josh
Kraft		 Michelle
Wu		 Other Undecided
Emerson College[86] September 2–3, 2025 555 (LV) ± 4.1% – 1% 2% – 22% 72% 1% 2%
Suffolk University[87] July 13–16, 2025 500 (LV) ± 4.4% – – 2.8% – 29.6% 59.8% 1.2% 6.6%
Saint Anselm College[88] April 23–25, 2025 564 (LV) ± 4.1% 0.5% – 2.3% – 21.1% 53.4% 3.2% 19.5%
Emerson College[89] February 24–26, 2025 617 (LV) ± 3.9% – – – 2% 29% 43% 2% 24%
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Campaign finances

Wu raised $1.8 million for her campaign committee. Kraft's committee raised $6.8 million,[90] a record for a Boston mayoral preliminary campaign.[91][92] However, $5.5 million of what Kraft raised came from his own personal wealth and only $1.3 came from sources and contributors other than Kraft himself[90] (primarily wealthy donors, including Boston business leaders)[92]

Kraft's committee spent more than $5.6 million before the primary, while Wu's campaign committee spent more than $1.1 million. The Super PAC Your City, Your Future, supporting Kraft's campaign, spent more than $3.1 million before the primary. Its chief contributors Jim Davis (chairman of the company New Balance) and Michael Rubin (founder of the sports merchandise company Fanatics), who each gave the PAC $1 million. Bold Boston, a Super PAC supporting Wu, spent more than $850,000.[93]

Campaign and major issues

Kraft has campaigned as being more moderate than the incumbent Wu, who is regarded to be a progressive.[94] Kraft entered the election considered a potentially strong challenger to Wu due to his lengthy philanthropic resume, his lack of political record for her to litigate, as well as his vast personal wealth and connections to wealthy prospective donors from which he could fund his campaign.[95]

Ahead of the preliminary vote, Wu criticized the amount of his own personal wealth that Kraft used to fund his campaign, the vast amount of money Kraft spent on the preliminary, as well as Kraft's lack of full public transparency about the sources from which he derives his $6.3 million annual income.[90] Kraft pledged in February 2025 that, if elected mayor, he would recuse himself "anything that my family's business had in front of the city of Boston".[96]

Ahead of the preliminary, Wu received a broad amount backing from incumbent members of the Boston City Council and local Democratic Party leaders.[97] She also benefited from holding a high popularity rating in Boston. Ahead of the preliminary vote, she had success in tying Kraft to President Donald Trump, who is highly unpopular in Boston.[95] This tactic was regarded to have resonated, in part, due to Kraft's father having had ties[h] to Trump.[104][99] Wu is regarded to have benefited from having attained newfound prominence nationally as a perceived foil to the Trump administration,[95] defending the city against attacks by the Trump administration. The week prior to the election, the Trump administration's Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Boston over its "sanctuary city" policy. On the day of voting for the primary election, the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security put out a statement announcing a further immigration crackdown in Massachusetts.[97] The Trump administration also levied the threat of deploying the National Guard into the city.[105] Tufts University political scientist Jeffrey M. Berry characterized Wu as having established herself during the Second Trump Administration" as a, "symbol of democratic resistance to the president", which he opined was to the benefit of her mayoral re-election prospects.[97] Kraft has argued Wu's emphasis on Trump is an effort to distract from her own effort.[91]

One of Kraft's main criticisms of Wu was the installation of bike lanes during Wu's mayoralty, with Kraft accusing her administration of having installing too many bike lanes and having done so with an insufficient amount of prior planning.[90][106] Another of Kraft's top criticisms of Wu was the renovation of White Stadium which Wu has championed, with Kraft characterizing it as expensive as well as unpopular with and detrimental to communities living near the stadium.[90][96] Wu has countered this by refuting Kraft's allegations of rising costs for the project, and by alleging that Kraft had a conflict of interest against the stadium due to his family's company, the Kraft Group, planning to build a privately-owned soccer stadium in the neighboring city of Everett for their New England Revolution men's team (a renovated White Stadium could compete with the Krafts' planned soccer stadium for event-bookings).[90][96] Kraft also characterized Wu as having insufficiently addressed the city's housing needs in her term as mayor. Overall, Kraft's campaign was characterized as struggling to find a resonant message against Wu, and a week prior to the primary he parted ways with two of his top campaign advisors.[97]

Results

Results by ward
  Wu—80–90%
  Wu—70–80%
  Wu—60–70%
  Wu—50–60%
  Wu—40–50%

Wu and Kraft's leads over Cappucci and DaRosa was pronounced enough that the Associated Press projected Wu and Kraft's first and second place finishes in the preliminary within eighteen minutes after the election's poll-closing time.[90]

Wu led the vote in all of the city's 22 wards by comfortable margins. Of Boston's 272 precincts, Kraft only led Wu in 9. Some of the precincts where Kraft outperformed her were in Ward 16, regarded to be one of the city's more conservative areas. However, Wu still won a number of precincts in Ward 16, and carried the overall vote in the ward.[105]

More information Candidate, Votes ...
Preliminary election results[107]
Candidate Votes %
Michelle Wu (incumbent) 66,859 71.85
Josh Kraft 21,481 23.08
Domingos DaRosa 2,428 2.61
Robert Cappucci 2,091 2.25
Write-in 201 0.22
Total votes 93,060 100
Close

Analysis

Wu's 49–point lead over Kraft in the preliminary was described by GBH as a "landslide",[108] The Boston Globe as "staggering"[109] the Dorchester Reporter as a "blowout",[105] and analyst Jon Keller as a "drubbing [for Kraft]".[110] Wu is the first candidate to receive more than 70% of the vote in either round of a Boston mayoral election since the 2001 election.

Jon Keller, writing for WBUR, noted that Wu had carried the vote in Ward 16 precinct 2 by a preliminary-count of 84 to Kraft's 37. Keller described that precinct as being "one of the last remaining pockets of 'old Boston' voters in South Dorchester," and described Wu's strong performance there as, "a warning sign that moderate-to-conservative voters are by no means reflexively anti-Wu."[95]

Numerous political analysts characterized Kraft as having failed to provide voters with a cogent rationale for his candidacy. Numerous analysts also characterized Kraft as having been a poor campaigner, despite the vast financial resources available to his campaign.[110][111] The Boston Globe journalist Adrian Walker opined that Kraft had run "the most unlikable campaign for mayor in Boston history". Walker characterized Wu, contrarily, as having run a strong campaign and having benefited from positioning herself as a foil against the Trump administration,[111] writing on the eve of the preliminary election,

Kraft — for all of his negative campaigning — has been so inept at articulating, well, anything. Wu has run a terrific campaign and props to her for that. This is truly the best version of her Boston has seen.[111]

In a later piece published by The Boston Globe, business leader David D'Alessandro opined that the weak performance of Kraft was less due to any flaws he had as a candidate, and more due to Wu being a strong incumbent,

Kraft was a fine candidate. He has faithfully contributed to the community for decades and has a strong philanthropic record and well-known family heritage. Against most candidates, he would have had a much better showing. He unfortunately ran against an emerging phenomenon who is becoming a national political star by building a Tom Menino-like neighborhood base, standing up to the MAGA crowd, lowering the crime rate, and most importantly convincing the vast majority of voting Bostonians that she is on their side and fighting for them every day.[112]

General election

On September 11 (two days after the preliminary), Kraft announced he was ending his campaign. The following day, he filed a request with the elections office to have his name removed[i] from the general election ballot.[104][4] On September 15, the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office confirmed Kraft properly filed the paperwork by the deadline to remove his name from the ballot.[5] As a result, his name was not listed on the general election ballot.[114] This is the first instance under Boston's current election format[j] that a candidate has withdrawn after advancing to the mayoral election ballot.[115]

DaRosa (as the next-highest candidate in the preliminary) would have been eligible to replace Kraft as the general election opponent to Wu if the final tally of the preliminary saw him receive at least 3,000 votes.[4][113] DaRosa announced he would seek a recount of the preliminary in the longshot hope that there had been a several hundred vote undercount of his support in the preliminary that would be sufficient for a recount to potentially increase his vote share to the 3,000 needed for him to be eligible to replace Kraft on the general election ballot, and he began circulating recount petitions.[4][115] On September 22, after recounts were completed in several wards, it was confirmed that Wu would be unopposed in the general election.[116] Wu is the first candidate unopposed on a mayoral general election ballot since Tom Menino in 1997.[115][116]

Candidates

Withdrew from ballot

Polling

More information Poll source, Date(s) administered ...
Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size[g]		 Margin
of error		 Michelle
Wu		 Josh
Kraft		 Undecided
Emerson College[86] September 2–3, 2025 555 (LV) ± 4.1% 73% 22% 5%
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Results

More information Candidate, Votes ...
General election results[118]
Candidate Votes %
Michelle Wu (incumbent) 78,997 93.24
Josh Kraft write-in votes; withdrawn candidate 1,128 1.33
Domingos DaRosa write-in votes 114 0.13
Robert Cappuci write-in votes 57 0.07
other write-ins/scattering 4,426 5.22
Total votes 84,722 100
Close

Notes

  1. [a]
    Wu was unopposed on the general election ballot. She had faced Kraft and two other challengers in the preliminary election. She and Kraft advanced to the general election after, respectively, receiving 71.85% and 23.08% in the preliminary. Kraft, however, withdrew from the general election ballot. There were 5,725 write-in votes cast in the general election (6.76% of the vote), of which Kraft was counted as receiving the most
  2. [b]
    This was an elected position until 1991, when the seats became mayorally-appointed.
  3. [c]
    Capucci had previously run for public office 13 times (including two successful campaigns for Boston School Committee);[12] candidate for mayor in 2013, 2017, and 2021;[13] candidate for Boston City Council in 1983,[14] 1991,[15] 1993;[16] candidate for the United States House of Representatives in Massachusetts's 8th congressional district in 1982, 1984, and 1986;[17] candidate for Massachusetts Senate in the 1st Suffolk District in 1978 and 1980[17]
  4. [d]
    DaRosa had previously run in the 2017, 2019, and 2021 Boston City Council elections[19]
  5. [e]
    Augustin withdrew a week before the petition deadline and did not file a nominating petition.[22]
  6. [f]
    This ward committee is led by Bob Binney, who is a campaign treasurer for Wu's campaign.[54]
  7. [g]
    Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear
  8. [h]
    Robert Kraft (father of Josh Kraft) had a longtime friendship with Trump dating back to the 1990s,[98] and made a sizable donation to fund the Trump's first inauguration. While he was reported to have initially distanced himself from Trump in the years following the January 6, 2021 attack, reports emerged in early 2025 that the two had resumed communication,[99] and they were once again being described by media as being allies.[99][100] In February 2025, Trump named Robert Kraft's wife (Josh Kraft's step-mother) Dana Blumberg to the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of a greater effort by Trump during his second term to purge members of the board and exert control over the venue.[101][102][103]
  9. [i]
    State law gives candidates up to six days after the preliminary election to request to have their name removed from the ballot. After this deadline, they are not permitted to make such a request.[4][113]
  10. [j]
    1951 was the first election in which Boston used its current format of nonpartisan preliminaries preceding its mayoral general elections[115]

References

External links

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