Outside Super PAC money ramping up in Boston mayoral race

New Balance chairman and Republican mega-donor Jim Davis gave $1 million to a super PAC backing mayoral candidate Josh Kraft in April, an opening salvo in what campaign finance experts predict will be an expensive mayoral election.

Super PACs, the shadowy big-money spending groups best known for their influence in national politics, are playing an increasing role in local campaigns, including the Boston mayor's race.

" This is happening in these kind of races all over the country now," said Brendan Glavin, director of insights at OpenSecrets, a national nonprofit that tracks money in politics. " Their influence and the effect they have now versus 10 years ago, it's just blown up."

Boston's last mayoral election saw super PACs pumping millions of dollars into mailers and advertisements. Big cities like New York and Chicago also have seen more super PAC activity in recent years.

Davis gave $1 million to the "Your City, Your Future" independent political action committee on April 1, according to a campaign finance report made public Friday and first reported by the Commonwealth Beacon.

The group was formed in February and cites a mission to "support candidates who work to create a thriving, affordable, and sustainable Boston for all and oppose those who do not." It has since spent $100,000 on digital advertisements supporting Kraft, the Democrat and philanthropist seeking to unseat Mayor Michelle Wu.

Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's controversial 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. These groups cannot directly coordinate with campaigns.

Davis, the billionaire owner of New Balance, the Boston-based athletic shoe company, is a major donor to national Republicans and once gave $400,000 to support President Trump's 2016 campaign. But this is not Davis' first foray into using super PACs to influence Boston politics.

In recent years, Davis has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting moderate and centrist candidates for mayor and city council. Davis backed Wu's challenger Annissa Essaibi George in the last mayoral election, in 2021, even as Essaibi George asked super PACs to stay out of the race.

Neither Kraft nor Wu have called on super PACs to keep out of this year's election.

A spokesperson for the Kraft campaign declined to comment on Davis' recent contribution. Davis did not respond to a request for comment.

Wu will likely receive support from outside spending groups as well. Super PACs affiliated with major unions and environmental groups shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to support her 2021 campaign.

Last month, the 1199 SEIU service union's political action committee gave $100,000 to a super PAC called "Bold Boston," which spent money on city council candidates endorsed by Wu in the last election. Bold Boston has yet to report any spending this cycle.

Wu is also a prolific fundraiser, with nearly $2 million of cash on hand in her campaign account. She raised over $300,000 in March, following her high-profile and highly praised trip to Washington, D.C., where she defended Boston's immigration enforcement policies before a hostile congressional committee.

Political analysts think the financial support from Davis, a Trump donor, could help Wu tie Kraft to the president, who remains deeply unpopular in Boston. Kraft's father Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, has also supported Trump in the past.

"I think it's going to be pretty easy for the Wu campaign to put them together," said Jerold Duquette, a political science professor at Central Connecticut State University who studies New England politics. "This is not the year for billionaires in blue states. I think the timing's bad."

" It makes it easier for those who want to paint Josh Kraft in 'MAGA' paint," said Erin O'Brien, a political science professor at UMass Boston. In the pages of the Boston Herald this week, conservative political columnist Joe Battenfeld called Davis' support "more ammo" for Wu.

Kraft has told WBUR he's "never voted" for and "never financially supported" Trump, and feels the president "lacks the temperament, the ethics and the values to be the president of the United States."

Kraft has raised over $700,000 in his first two months on the campaign trail, state campaign finance data show, and is expected to also draw on his family's wealth.

Kraft released a new video ad this week bashing Wu's $200 million plan to redevelop White Stadium in Franklin Park with a professional women's soccer team. And digital ads paid for by the Davis-backed super PAC are lighting up on potential voters' screens across Boston.

"Money helps," said O'Brien of UMass Boston. "But reputation matters most."