STARTS RIGHT NOW. RIGHT NOW, AS WE COME ON THE AIR AT SEVEN, BREAKING NEWS, YOU WILL SEE ONLY ON FIVE TONIGHT, A MAJOR SHAKEUP IN THE RACE FOR MAYOR OF BOSTON. JUST MOMENTS AGO, LITERALLY, I SAT DOWN WITH JOSH KRAFT, WHO SHARED A VERY IMPORTANT DECISION. THIS IS AN INTERVIEW YOU WILL SEE EXCLUSIVELY RIGHT HERE ON NEWS CENTER FIVE. JOSH KRAFT, YOU ARE HERE AT CHANNEL FIVE AND WE APPRECIATE IT. YOU HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE. LOOK, WHEN I GOT INTO THE MAYOR’S RACE, IT WAS A CONTINUATION OF WHAT I’VE DONE FOR 35 YEARS. LISTENING TO PEOPLE ACROSS THE CITY OF BOSTON AND NOT JUST LISTENING TO THEM, BUT LEARNING FROM THEM, UNDERSTANDING THEM, UNDERSTANDING THEIR NEEDS, THEIR HOPES, THEIR CHALLENGES. I STARTED TO THINK ABOUT THE NEXT EIGHT WEEKS OF THIS CAMPAIGN. EIGHT WEEKS OF A LOT OF MUDSLINGING, POLITICAL TALK, BUT NO TALK ABOUT WHAT REALLY MATTERS. THE ISSUES THAT IMPACT EVERY SINGLE BOSTONIAN ACROSS THE CITY OF BOSTON, AND THE COUNTRIES THAT ARE POISED NOW. WE SEE IT EVERY DAY WHERE THE VITRIOL AND THE POLITICAL ARGUING AND FIGHTING, IT’S NOT LEADING TO ANYTHING BUT ANGER AND NEGATIVITY. SO YOUR DECISION. MY DECISION IS TO SUSPEND MY CAMPAIGN, MY CANDIDACY FOR MAYOR AS OF TODAY. SO, AS YOU KNOW, KRAFT DID COME IN SECOND IN THIS WEEK’S PRELIMINARY ELECTION AND WOULD HAVE MOVED ON TO NOVEMBER. AGAIN, WE LITERALLY JUST DID THIS INTERVIEW. WE’LL HAVE A LOT MORE THE FULL INTERVIEW. A LOT OF IT TONIGHT AT 11. I DID ASK JOSH KRAFT IF HE WAS GOING TO THROW HIS SUPPORT BEHIND BOSTON MAYOR MICHELLE WU. AND THIS IS WHAT HE TOLD ME. AND I’M QUOTING, THE CITY HAS SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES BEFORE IT TODAY AND IN THE DAYS AHEAD. I SINCERELY WISH MAYOR WU’S SUCCESS AS SHE UNDERTAKES THE IMPORTANT TASK OF ADDRESSING THEM FOR THE BETTERMENT OF ALL BOSTONIANS. BY THE WAY, HE IS ALSO PLANNING TO DONATE $3 MILLION TO ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE WORKING TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE. HE SAYS HE SAW FIRSTHAND IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS, AND THAT IS THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT MASS AND CAST. SO THE MONEY THAT HE WOULD HAVE USED TO CONTINUE THE CAMPAIGN IS THE MONEY THAT HE’S NOW GOING TO PUT IN TO THIS. HE SAYS THIS IS THE WAY HE WANTED TO START THE CAMPAIGN, AND THIS IS THE WAY HE WANTS TO END THE CAMPAIGN. THIS IS BREAKING NEWS, BY THE WAY, THAT YOU ARE SEEING ONLY ON FIVE TONIGHT AS THIS STORY DEVELOPS, DEVELOPS, WE ARE WORKING TO CONTINUE TO GET REACTION ON THIS NEWS FROM THE WU CAMPAIGN. WE’LL HAVE MORE COVERAGE TONIGHT ON NEWSCENTER FIVE, TOMORROW MORNING ON THE EYEOPENER, SUNDAY MORNING ON OTR. AND OF COURS
Josh Kraft ends campaign for Boston mayor: Exclusive NewsCenter 5 interview
‘I can make a better impact,’ he said
Updated: 8:17 PM EDT Sep 11, 2025
Philanthropist Josh Kraft, son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, is ending his campaign for mayor after a blistering defeat in Boston’s preliminary election. “My decision is to suspend my campaign, my candidacy for mayor as of today, and I appreciate you letting me announce it here tonight,” Kraft said in an exclusive interview with NewsCenter 5 anchor Maria Stephanos. “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 said. “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.”Mayor Michelle Wu, the incumbent, entered the preliminary election with a massive lead in the polls and led the election results on Tuesday by a margin of nearly 49% over Kraft.In a statement, Wu responded to Kraft’s withdrawal: “I respect Josh’s decision and thank him for caring about our city deeply enough to want to make it better,” Wu wrote. “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.”As the top two finishers, Wu and Kraft were in position to advance to the general election in November. Community advocate Domingos DaRosa and former police officer Robert Cappucci were eliminated from contention by the results. Kraft, who has never held public office, entered the race in February. He led his family’s philanthropic efforts, serves on several boards, and spent 30 years with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston.While both Kraft and Wu are Democrats, he campaigned largely on criticism of the current administration. He attempted to position himself as someone who would “listen and learn from the people,” but never gained enough traction to challenge a popular incumbent with national notoriety.Kraft said he would divert his attention and $3 million to organizations focused on the crisis in the neighborhood known as Mass and Cass. “What I’ll be doing is — the money that I would have needed to get through these next eight weeks of mudslinging—is take that money and some more money, and work with the Gavin Foundation and The Phoenix to fight to take those first steps to find a real solution to the human tragedy and public safety crisis of Mass and Cass, as well as to re-energize a similar program, Operation Exit, which helps people coming home from incarceration not just find jobs, but find careers,” Kraft said during the exclusive interview. Boston voters haven’t ousted an incumbent mayor since John Hynes defeated James Michael Curley in 1949, following Curley’s prison sentence. Hynes previously served as a “temporary mayor” for five months while Curley was in federal prison, city archives state.Kraft split from his top campaign advisors less than one week before the preliminary election. At the time, Kraft’s campaign also confirmed he was pouring $3.5 million of his own funding into the effort, bringing his total investment to more than $5 million.Video below: Kraft splits with top advisorsWu, the city’s first Asian and female leader, has been bolstered in part by her defense of the city against attacks from the Trump administration. Members of the administration, often led by President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, have accused the city of not doing enough to crack down on illegal immigration and threatened a surge in arrests.Federal immigration officials are currently conducting an enforcement surge in the region, and the Department of Justice launched a lawsuit against the city and the mayor last week. Video below: Preliminary election results
BOSTON —
Philanthropist Josh Kraft, son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, is ending his campaign for mayor after a blistering defeat in Boston’s preliminary election.
“My decision is to suspend my campaign, my candidacy for mayor as of today, and I appreciate you letting me announce it here tonight,” Kraft said in an exclusive interview with NewsCenter 5 anchor Maria Stephanos.
“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 said. “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.”
Mayor Michelle Wu, the incumbent, entered the preliminary election with a massive lead in the polls and led the election results on Tuesday by a margin of nearly 49% over Kraft.
In a statement, Wu responded to Kraft’s withdrawal:
“I respect Josh’s decision and thank him for caring about our city deeply enough to want to make it better,” Wu wrote. “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.”
As the top two finishers, Wu and Kraft were in position to advance to the general election in November. Community advocate Domingos DaRosa and former police officer Robert Cappucci were eliminated from contention by the results.
Kraft, who has never held public office, entered the race in February. He led his family’s philanthropic efforts, serves on several boards, and spent 30 years with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston.
Charles Krupa
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft with his son Josh Kraft in 2013.
While both Kraft and Wu are Democrats, he campaigned largely on criticism of the current administration. He attempted to position himself as someone who would “listen and learn from the people,” but never gained enough traction to challenge a popular incumbent with national notoriety.
Kraft said he would divert his attention and $3 million to organizations focused on the crisis in the neighborhood known as Mass and Cass.
“What I’ll be doing is — the money that I would have needed to get through these next eight weeks of mudslinging—is take that money and some more money, and work with the Gavin Foundation and The Phoenix to fight to take those first steps to find a real solution to the human tragedy and public safety crisis of Mass and Cass, as well as to re-energize a similar program, Operation Exit, which helps people coming home from incarceration not just find jobs, but find careers,” Kraft said during the exclusive interview.
Boston voters haven’t ousted an incumbent mayor since John Hynes defeated James Michael Curley in 1949, following Curley’s prison sentence. Hynes previously served as a “temporary mayor” for five months while Curley was in federal prison, city archives state.
Kraft split from his top campaign advisors less than one week before the preliminary election. At the time, Kraft’s campaign also confirmed he was pouring $3.5 million of his own funding into the effort, bringing his total investment to more than $5 million.
Video below: Kraft splits with top advisors
Wu, the city’s first Asian and female leader, has been bolstered in part by her defense of the city against attacks from the Trump administration. Members of the administration, often led by President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, have accused the city of not doing enough to crack down on illegal immigration and threatened a surge in arrests.
Federal immigration officials are currently conducting an enforcement surge in the region, and the Department of Justice launched a lawsuit against the city and the mayor last week.
Video below: Preliminary election results