Prominent national Democrats ask Josh Kraft to stop using names, likenesses in unauthorized fundraising push

Boston Globe

6 days ago

And, it turns out, Schiff never said Kraft could reach out with that urgent message.
The Kraft
Schiff's name and likeness is one of at least five the campaign has sent in recent weeks that feature prominent national Democrats who have not publicly weighed in on the Boston mayor's race. At least two of those politicians have now asked the Kraft campaign to stop using their names and likenesses in the email fundraising solicitations.
'Immediately after being informed that the Kraft campaign sent an email we did not approve of in Schiff's name, we reached out to the campaign to ask them to stop,' said a spokesperson for the Schiff campaign. 'While an unfortunate situation, the Kraft campaign let us know that it would not happen again.'
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In addition to Schiff, Kraft fundraising emails featured US Representative Eric Swalwell of California; US Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas; former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, who is running for US Senate; and Shawn Harris, a retired brigadier general and political candidate in Georgia. Swalwell's campaign said he also did not approve the fundraising solicitation, and is asking Kraft to put an end to it. Crockett, Cooper, and Harris did not return requests for comment from the Globe on Monday, but none appears to have publicly waded into the Boston mayor's race.
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The emails sent by the Kraft campaign urged potential donors to financially support both Kraft and the highlighted politician in whose name the email was sent. So-called split list fundraising is not uncommon in Democratic politics; allied politicians often urge their donors to back like minded candidates in an effort to increase their ranks and forge connections. Typically, those fundraising solicitations come from politicians who have explicitly endorsed one another, or at least signed off on the shared fundraising push.
It would be highly unusual, if not unheard of, for a political candidate to send such an email in a contested election if she had not already endorsed one of the candidates, political operatives said.
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For example, in the last month alone, Mayor Michelle Wu's campaign has sent email blasts from US Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, as well as US Representative Ayanna Pressley. All three are vocal supporters of the mayor, and the emails sent in their name directed
donors to give exclusively to Wu.
Political and campaign finance experts called the Kraft campaign's recent fundraising blitz unorthodox, or even potentially misleading for donors, while Wu, whom Kraft is seeking to unseat, argued it could be illegal.
In a letter on Sunday, Wu campaign treasurer Robert Binney called on the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance to investigate.
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'Even assuming a donor managed to decipher the fine print, these voters would reasonably assume that leading national figures like Senator Schiff and Representative Crockett are supporting Kraft's campaign for Mayor, which we believe to be untrue and an obvious attempt to deceive voters,' Binney wrote. 'At best these practices are highly deceptive and negligent, at worst they are illegal violations of our state campaign finance laws.'
A spokesperson for the Kraft campaign defended the legality of the fundraising push, and said the unauthorized emails were 'an error on the part of our vendor.'
'Our vendor is responsible for the approvals process with all candidates involved. As a result of today's inquiries, we have been made aware that what we thought was an isolated incident in failing to seek approval was much larger,' said the spokesperson, Eileen O'Connor. 'As a result, we are moving to shut down the links and terminate our agreement with the consulting firm.'
The OCPF complaint from Wu's campaign is 'lacking on both substantive and legal grounds,' O'Connor added. 'Michelle Wu is desperate to distract voters from her broken campaign promises and failures on so many pressing issues.'
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The Kraft campaign has also
The email featuring Schiff was sent on July 20. When Schiff's team reached out the next day,
they were quickly told it would not happen again.
But more than a week later, on Aug. 2, Kraft's campaign sent an email that appeared to come from Swalwell, another well known California Democrat.
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'As the senior-most Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, I've seen a lot,' the email begins, before railing against a Trump appointee and the actions of the administration.
'Chip in today,' the email urged, linking to an
Swalwell also did not approve of the email sent in his voice, a spokesperson told the Globe Monday.
'We were not aware that they did this. We did not approve, nor would we have,' said Lisa Tucker, a spokesperson for Swalwell's campaign. Tucker said Swalwell's team had reached out to the Kraft campaign to ask that the joint Act Blue link be shut down.
Tucker said Swalwell has offered a 'partner toolkit' for a year and a half 'and have never had something like this happen.' Typically, allied candidates who want to fundraise alongside him would seek permission directly, and the Swalwell campaign would approve of any fundraising emails before they are sent, she said.
'This is definitely making us reexamine our process to make sure this doesn't happen again,' Tucker said.
Other emails featuring prominent national Democrats were sent on July 30 and Aug. 1, according to screenshots obtained by the Globe.
Kraft is seen as Wu's closest rival in the mayor's race this year, though a recent Suffolk University/ Boston Globe poll
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So far, Kraft has been a strong fundraiser. As of the end of June,
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The fundraising emails raise serious questions about the Kraft campaign's tactics, said Jack Corrigan, a campaign finance lawyer and longtime Democratic operative who has donated to Wu this campaign cycle
but does not work for her campaign. The emails — at least some of which were sent without permission of the high profile Democrats — imply an endorsement, and for donors, that could be 'deceptive,' Corrigan said.
'Even if it's legal,' he said, 'it's questionable.'
Tal Kopan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Emma Platoff can be reached at