Campaign finance: Wu’s $16 per vote trounces Kraft’s $262 in Boston election

For each vote she received in Tuesday’s preliminary election, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s campaign spent about as much as the cost of two pints of Boston Lager, plus tip, at the Samuel Adams Boston Taproom next to City Hall.

For her chief opponent, Josh Kraft, votes cost a bit more — closer to the rate of tickets to the Red Sox for a family of four.

Wu took a massive step toward a possible reelection Tuesday, cruising through the city’s preliminary election with 72% of the vote in unofficial results. Kraft followed with 23%, moving on to face Wu in the November general election.

To achieve his second-place finish Tuesday and move forward, Kraft’s campaign spent nearly $5.6 million through early September, campaign finance records show.

Many of the largest checks the campaign has written, totaling more than $3.1 million through the end of August, went to Technicolor Political, a political consulting and advertising firm that works for high-profile Democratic candidates and causes. Its other clients include U.S. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

Kraft earned 21,324 votes on Tuesday, according to the unofficial results, which showed all precincts reporting.

Dividing his spending by his vote total yields about $262 per vote.

Wu’s campaign, by comparison, spent about $1.12 million — a fifth of what Kraft spent from the time he entered the race in February through the beginning of September.

On Tuesday, she received 66,398 votes, more than three for every one of Kraft’s.

For each of those voters, Wu’s campaign spent $16.85.

Kraft, the son of billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, has campaigned through the election cycle with far more financial resources than Wu.

Though declining to release his complete tax returns, Kraft said he made $6.3 million last year, which he attributed to “the family business.”

He has poured $5.5 million of his own money into the campaign, including $3.5 million in the closing weeks before the preliminary election.

Kraft’s wealth and spending in the race have been frequent targets of Wu, as has his semirecent move to Boston. Though he had long worked for and later led the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, Kraft first took up residence in the city in 2023.

Leading Kraft in early election results by more than 40 percentage points Tuesday night, Wu continued to batter her opponent over his spending on the race.

The mayor told supporters at a rally in Roslindale’s Adams Park Tuesday night that she had won by “a margin money can’t purchase.”

The race has broken existing records for campaign spending.

Wu’s 2021 campaign for mayor set the state’s spending record for a mayoral race with $3,047,256, according to a 2023 study from the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

Until then, the previous record had been $3,015,209, set in 2013 by Marty Walsh’s successful campaign for mayor of Boston. Walsh and his general election opponent, former Boston City Councilor John Connolly, dropped a combined $6,020,548 on the race.

Wu’s and Kraft’s campaigns already blew past that mark ahead of the preliminary election. With both candidates advancing to the general election, and Kraft pledging to stay in the race, the money is on track to keep flowing.

In 2021, the five major candidates running to succeed Walsh spent a collective $10.2 million. Wu and Kraft have so far expended $6.8 million this year, with eight weeks to go until the November election.

The Wu and Kraft campaigns also aren’t the only heavy spenders in this election cycle.

Super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in support of candidates but cannot coordinate with campaigns, have organized to back both Wu and Kraft.

The pro-Kraft super PAC Your City, Your Future has spent $3,149,205 on the race since forming in February.

Its largest contributions come from New Balance chairman Jim Davis and Michael Rubin, founder of the sports merchandising company Fanatics. Each gave $1 million.

Bold Boston, a pro-Wu super PAC, has spent $853,433 since February.