5 things to know about Josh Kraft and his bid to be Boston mayor

The race is on.

Josh Kraft is expected to officially announce his campaign to be Boston mayor Tuesday morning, launching a high-profile challenge against incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu, who said she will run for a second term.

You may know the Kraft name. But what about the man and candidate himself?

Here are five things to know:

Kraft, 57, is the second youngest of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s four sons. He grew up in the Brookline part of Chestnut Hill. Kraft went on to attend Williams College and got a master's degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

While his brothers followed their dad into the family’s paper and sports empires, Kraft has long been involved in nonprofit work. He spent 30 years working for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston; during that time, he helped establish a club in Chelsea and served as the organization’s CEO from 2008 to 2020.

In recent years, Kraft has taken a full-time role overseeing his family’s philanthropic efforts — including as CEO of the New England Patriots Foundation since 2023. He has also served as a board member for several local institutions, including Brandeis University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. And since 2017, he has served as co-chair of Massachusetts’ revived Task Force on Hate Crimes.

In a campaign announcement video this week, Kraft said his "number one priority is to lower the cost of housing by building more housing" — a priority shared by Wu and many other officials in Massachusetts.

"We have to do better," Kraft said on the city's efforts to ramp up housing production. "Strong leadership starts with listening. I will continue listening to people in every part of Boston because my life has taught me that you can learn from anyone."

Kraft hasn't elaborated on how he'd govern differently than Wu, though he accused the mayor of putting "politics and ideology ahead of impact" in his launch video.

Kraft is registered as a Democrat, and supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. In the past decade, he has donated primarily to Democrats, including most members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation. Kraft supported former Rep. Joe Kennedy III in his 2020 bid to unseat Sen. Ed Markey. And his most recent giving history includes donations to Gov. Maura Healey, Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia and the Massachusetts State Democratic Committee.

Kraft has also at times supported Republicans, ranging from moderate New Englanders like former Gov. Charlie Baker and Maine Sen. Susan Collins to Trump loyalists like Wisconsin Rep. Glenn Grothmann, Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter and Illinois Rep. Mike Bost. Eileen O’Connor, a spokesperson for Kraft, told The Boston Globe that the donations to those conservative Republicans were “singularly because of their strong public support for Israel and that alone.”

“Josh is Jewish, is pro-Israel, and has family and friends there. And that is why he has supported policymakers who are pro-Israel,” O’Connor told the Globe, adding that he has also “long been a staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and a woman’s right to choose.”

According to the Globe, Kraft voted in the Republican presidential primaries in 2016 and 2000.

(You can browse his recent history of political donations on the Federal Election Commission and Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance websites.)

Kraft only recently made the city his official home. The longtime Newton resident purchased a condo on the North End waterfront in October 2023 for $2.35 million, as CommonWealth Beacon first reported. A spokesperson told the Globe last month that the condo is Kraft’s primary residence, where he votes and receives mail.

The conventional wisdom is that incumbents like Wu tend to be most vulnerable in their first reelection bid. Still, Kraft is going up against history to some degree. No incumbent Boston mayor has lost reelection since 1949, when the scandal-plagued Mayor James Michael Curley lost to clerk John B. Hynes. And Wu won her 2021 election, with over 64% of the vote.

But Wu — the first woman and first person of color elected Boston mayor — has her fair share of critics, including certain business leaders, bike lane critics, White Stadium renovation opponents and even some progressives. And the city’s housing affordability issues remain an intractable challenge.

However, she also has notched some victories as mayor. Boston has experienced historically little violent crime during her tenure. And she's already been endorsed by the city’s two largest civilian worker unions.

Asked about Kraft’s looming challenge, Wu — who previously served four terms as an at-large city councilor — pointed to her own long record of public service in Boston.

“What I'll say is this: I'm now honored, blessed, to be in my 12th year serving the city in a public capacity,” she said during a GBH radio interview last week. “And so knowing the city, knowing how much residents care about every little issue — whether it's a parking garage or a zoning plan or a tax bill, Boston residents expect you to know what's happening, have clear positions, get right in there and very clearly explain how you're going to make things better.”