Keller: Wu looks to play "Trump card" against Kraft, who has an uphill climb in the polls
With less than 100 days to go before Boston voters choose their mayor for the next four years, incumbent Michelle Wu is basking in the glow of what one recent poll found was a whopping 65% job approval rating among Boston voters. But there are some trouble spots on the Wu record that chief challenger Josh Kraft thinks he can exploit.
That includes the controversial, increasingly costly rehab of Franklin Park's White Stadium into a shared public/private facility.
"Mayor Wu thinks the voters of Boston are a bunch of fools," said Kraft at a press conference slamming Wu for hedging on the projected cost of the project.
"I did vote for Mayor Wu the first election, [but] I have serious concerns this time," said Jamaica Plain resident Melissa Hamel, part of a group suing the city over the White Stadium project. "I don't like the fact that our community meetings have been less than transparent. Basically we were told what we were gonna get, we weren't asked."
And Kraft sees a political opportunity there. "This election is about giving voters a choice...between a candidate that says they want to be inclusive of all voices and a candidate that actually listens to those voices before a decision is made," he says.
To which Wu countered: "All he said is that we don't listen enough and he will listen more. But my question is, listen to who? Trump mega-donors?"
There it is, the Wu campaign's Trump card. The president is about as popular in Boston as a packed subway car in a heatwave with no AC. And that recent poll showed standing up to Trump was a top three issue on the minds of Boston voters.
"The federal government has retreated from the real challenges that we face everyday," Wu said.
And while Kraft says he's never voted for Trump and thinks he's unfit, his chance for an upset may depend on somehow trumping the Trump card.
The most recent polling had Wu with a huge 30-point lead. Can Kraft possibly overcome that?
Yes, but he has a tough climb ahead. Despite criticism over White Stadium, bike lanes and the state of the public schools, the mayor's personal popularity is sky-high, while Kraft is running TV ads trying to boost his own approval rating.
It's been 76 years since an incumbent mayor of Boston lost a re-election bid, and Wu has proven she's not going to be a pushover.
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