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An outside group that worked to help Boston Mayor Michelle Wu elect a slate of City Council candidates two years ago has received a six-figure infusion of cash as she faces a challenge from Josh Kraft, one of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s sons.
Bold Boston, a super political action committee (PAC), took in a $100,000 donation last month from 1199 SEIU, a union that represents 56,000 health care workers in Massachusetts. The donation, which came days after 1199 SEIU endorsed Wu for a second term, was listed in a regulatory filing from the union’s own separate PAC.
Since the 2023 election cycle, Anestine Bentick, an 1199 SEIU member who lives in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, has taken over as chair, according to regulatory filings from earlier this year. Bentick did not respond to a request for comment.
Super PACs, as the outside groups are known, can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they do not coordinate with the candidate they are supporting. Political observers expect Wu and Josh Kraft to each have multiple super PACs providing support in the mayoral contest.
Like their counterparts on the national stage, super PACs have played outsized roles in local elections, starting in the 2013 race to succeed Mayor Tom Menino. Unions united behind Marty Walsh, a state lawmaker and labor leader, and they poured millions of dollars into outside groups backing him, as super PACs with ties to the business sector backed John Connolly.
Every major candidate in the 2021 race to replace Walsh after he left for the Biden administration had super PAC support, including the two finalists, Wu and fellow city councilor Annissa Essaibi George. Essaibi George asked the super PACs to steer clear of the race – a plea they ignored.
Bold Boston formed during the 2023 election cycle, when only city councilors were on the municipal ballot. The super PAC took in $100,000 from four left-leaning unions, including 1199 SEIU. The others were the Boston Teachers Union; 32BJ SEIU, which represents property maintenance and airport workers; and UNITE HERE, which represents hospitality workers.
The super PAC spent just under $100,000 on four City Council candidates Wu had publicly endorsed. A separate super PAC with ties to conservative-leaning businessman Jim Davis, the chairman of shoemaker New Balance who also opposed Wu in 2021, was on the losing side, as most of its candidates lost to Wu’s slate.
The race for mayor remains in its early stages, though unions have largely lined up behind Wu. Eight labor organizations are planning a march on April 5 to support Wu, who is officially kicking off her reelection campaign that day in the South End.
Kraft has pulled in some labor support, including from the diron workers and the longshoremen’s unions. Malden-based Laborers Local 22, which represents construction workers, is also planning to back Kraft, a flip from 2021, when they endorsed Wu, sources told CommonWealth Beacon earlier this week. The union, which has has seen a change in leadership since the last mayoral election, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
A pro-Kraft super PAC hasn’t yet publicly emerged. Public relations magnate George Regan, who is close with Robert Kraft and worked on anti-Wu super PACs in previous election cycles, recently demurred when asked whether he plans to get involved in another one this cycle.
“I don’t know,” he said last month while leaving the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast roast in South Boston, jokingly adding he doesn’t involve himself in politics.
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