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Boston Globe

Josh Kraft is prioritizing winning over Black voters in Boston's mayoral race. Is it working?

Related : Advertisement 'This couldn't be a more appropriate place for our campaign to call home,' Kraft said in March at the opening of his campaign HQ. 'This campaign is about making sure that every voice in Boston is heard and valued.' A first-time candidate up against a savvy incumbent, Kraft believes his narrow path to victory runs directly through Roxbury and Boston's other communities of color, swaths of the city where, Kraft contends, voters feel ignored and let down by Wu. Wu's campaign firmly rejects that claim and the idea that she doesn't engage with communities of color. The campaign points to the Advertisement Kraft's strategy, nonetheless, reflects the campaign's view that the political newcomer can make inroads among Boston's voters of color. Kraft in recent weeks has appeared on at least four radio shows with Black hosts that focus on the Black community, and has frequently sat in pews for Sunday services and joined iftars in neighborhoods such as Dorchester and Mattapan. His team has recruited people specifically to lead outreach among Boston's Haitian and Cape Verdean residents. Last month, the Kraft campaign hosted an event in Mattapan featuring a couple dozen of Boston's Haitian residents formally endorsing his candidacy. Since he launched his challenge to Wu in February, Kraft has argued Wu 'doesn't listen' to residents, and has neglected Black neighborhoods and other communities around the city. And as Kraft's campaign sees it, the connections he developed through his nonprofit work, largely in communities of color, give him an opportunity to capitalize on what they view as Wu's vulnerability in Boston's diverse neighborhoods. More than two dozen interviews with Black Boston voters, including some civic leaders and political strategists, indicate Kraft will find at least some willingness to hear his message in these communities, but he has a lot more work to do before November. Like any voting bloc, Boston's Black community is incredibly diverse and not at all a monolith. Some prominent Black leaders, a portion of whom supported Wu in 2021, confirmed they are disillusioned with the mayor's leadership. Other Black voters told the Globe they still strongly support the mayor, particularly in light of the national political climate. Several others said they could possibly be open to voting for a challenger to Wu, but don't know enough about Kraft's policy positions to decide yet. A couple hadn't even heard of him. Advertisement The interviews indicate the dissatisfaction and frustration that Kraft seeks to capitalize on is real. Several of Wu's policy initiatives have angered some very vocal and influential leaders in Black neighborhoods, including her plan to Related : 'I feel like she's kind of failed Black people,' said Priscilla Flint, executive director of the Marcus Anthony Hall Educational Institute, which serves city youth. '[Wu] doesn't listen, and then she makes decisions,' without first soliciting community input. Flint voted for Wu in 2021, but said she's been disappointed in Wu's leadership and, at this point, doesn't plan to back her again. Flint's organization has also received support from Kraft's philanthropic work in the past. Other prominent civic leaders said the mayor's decision to block the creation of an elected School Committee was a turning point. During her first mayoral campaign, Wu said she supported a hybrid, partially elected School Committee, but as mayor she Advertisement Many voters who spoke with the Globe also said Wu has been too hasty installing '[In] conversations that I'm having with many, many people in the Black community, a lot of it comes down to, '[Wu] doesn't show up for us unless she needs something, or she only shows up when it can benefit her,'' said Jacquetta Van Zandt, a senior adviser to the Kraft campaign and host of the show 'Politics and Prosecco.' 'She has made decisions and choices that have conveniently left out Black voices.' Wu's campaign did not directly comment on the Kraft team's accusations, but in a statement emphasized her nearly 15 years in city government, the It hasn't been enough for some. Louis Elisa, president of the Garrison Trotter Neighborhood Association, said he's particularly disappointed in the stalled progress on plans to overhaul the city's only vocational high school, and what he sees as minimal improvements to the Advertisement He said he did not vote for Wu in 2021, but was pleased that she, both as a city councilor and as a mayoral candidate, showed interest in addressing some issues he deeply cares about, like Madison Park. But 'there are so many things she said she was going to do that didn't happen,' Elisa said. 'I started off very much in support of her administration doing good things, and she basically squandered that trust and that support by doing things that are totally unrelated to the needs of the community in which I live.' Other Black voters defended the mayor's record. Denise Williams, a 53-year-old former certified nursing assistant who lives in Roxbury, said she proudly supports Wu and appreciates how frequently she attends community events. As a mother, she said 'I just pray that she wins,' Williams said. 'I don't like for somebody to say, 'Well, I have Black friends' … No, you have to really be in it to understand what we go through on a daily basis.' Related : Jasen Lambright, a cybersecurity expert and Dorchester resident, said he voted for Wu in 2021 and will likely do so again. As a father of three kids in BPS, he said he still sees room for improvement. But he praised her work on public safety in the city, including progress she made tackling homelessness and the opioid crisis along what some call Advertisement 'I used to drive by there all the time to drop my kids off [at a youth program] … and I can say it looks markedly different,' Lambright said. He was also impressed by 'That was phenomenal, I agreed with everything she said,' Lambright said. 'What I like about Mayor Wu is I feel like she gets the overall picture. … I haven't heard why [Kraft] would do a better job.' Related : Antoinette Johnson, a 47-year-old Dorchester resident and morning show host on the Black-owned radio station Spark FM, also said Kraft hasn't articulated how his leadership would be different than Wu's. 'Instead of him saying, 'This is what I'm doing, this is what I'm doing,' it seems like he's kind of harping on what she's not doing,' Johnson said. She does, however, believe Kraft's efforts to reach Black voters are working. 'He's made himself available in a lot of spaces that we probably wouldn't think that Josh Kraft would be in.' Kraft recently joined Johnson and her co-hosts on their Spark FM show, and left a good impression, she said. While Johnson said she's supported Wu for years and approves of the job she's done in her first term, she sees Kraft as a strong contender in this year's race. 'In speaking to people in my community, it's probably split down the middle. There's a lot of people who are very, very excited about Mayor Wu running again. ... There are some other people who [think], 'Maybe there could be some change if we give Josh Kraft a chance.'' 'It's gonna be a tough race,' Johnson continued, 'but I think it's gonna be a good race, and I think that both of them have the opportunity to prove themselves.' Niki Griswold can be reached at