Wu responds to Kraft’s decision to drop out of mayoral race

Local News

Mayor Michelle Wu thanked Josh Kraft in a statement. It is unclear if Kraft’s name will still appear on the general election ballot.

Mayor Michelle Wu responded to the news that her rival, philanthropist Josh Kraft, was dropping out of the mayoral race with a short statement released Thursday evening.

“I respect Josh’s decision and thank him for caring about our city deeply enough to want to make it better. 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,” Wu said.

Earlier this week, voters resoundingly showed their support for Wu. She trounced Kraft by a wide margin: the city’s unofficial election results show Wu received 71.84% of the vote compared to Kraft’s 23.07%. Two lesser-known candidates, Domingos DaRosa and Robert Cappucci, received about 2% of the vote each and were eliminated after the preliminary election.

Kraft and Wu were set to face off in the general election on Nov. 4. The wide margin of Wu’s victory in the preliminary showed that Kraft had a monumental task ahead of him if he hoped to resurrect his campaign in the home stretch.

Kraft opted to drop out and instead donate $3 million he may have spent on his campaign to local organizations fighting drug addiction and homelessness. His decision all but guarantees Wu and second term.

“I have determined that what is right for this city — during a time in America where we need to come closer together despite all out differences, instead of igniting divisiveness that pulls us further apart — is not to get caught up in more political mudslinging but rather, to drive the conversation forward in a meaningful way,” Kraft wrote in a lengthy statement posted to Instagram.

It is unclear if Kraft will appear on the ballot in November. Under state law, he has until Monday to remove his name from the ballot.

If Kraft does remove his name, state law dictates that he would be replaced by the next-highest vote-getter, if that person “receives a number of votes at least equal to the number of signatures required by law to place his name on the preliminary election ballot.”

The candidate who came in third was DaRosa, a longtime community activist. However, DaRosa only received 2,409 total votes. Since mayoral candidates in Boston need to collect 3,000 signatures to get on the preliminary ballot, DaRosa may not be able to slot his name into the potentially empty spot opened up by Kraft.

When contacted Friday morning, an official within the city’s election department declined to answer questions about the ballot and referred Boston.com to the city’s main press office. Spokespeople in the press office did not immediately respond to a request for information.