400+ volunteers and campaign team fanned out across every neighborhood, signature haul demonstrates strong viability and momentum for campaign

May 1, 2025 / BOSTON, MA – Josh Kraft announced collecting 6,500 signatures yesterday from registered Boston voters, all done by a team of volunteers and staff. There were no paid signature gatherers involved and the effort was the result of more than 400 volunteers – as well as Josh – spending the day in the neighborhoods of Boston. Each candidate for municipal office must submit 3,000 signatures to be certified to appear on the ballot in the fall. 

“I am grateful to our team of volunteers that collected 6,500 signatures yesterday, as it shows the strong support and momentum for my candidacy and our campaign,” said Josh Kraft. “We also had conversations with thousands of people all over the city who are concerned about the direction the city is heading under Mayor Wu and are ready for a change. We are more motivated and energized than ever before about our path to victory on election day, and ultimately, creating a better city for everyone.”

Additional facts:

• Mayor Wu has been a Boston politician for more than 11 years, and collected 3,500 signatures yesterday. 
• Josh Kraft is a first-time candidate for elected office who announced his campaign less than three months ago, and collected 6,500 signatures yesterday. 
• Josh’s team includes some of the best political field operatives in the field:
  • The campaign’s lead field strategist is Michael Kineavy, a longtime Boston political hand who worked for Mayor Tom Menino for more than 20 years.
  • The campaign’s Organizing Director is Annie Nagle, who was Senator Warren’s regional field organizer in Massachusetts during her Presidential campaign, and has worked on several high profile ballot campaigns in MA.

About Josh 

Josh Kraft has spent his 35 year career working in disadvantaged communities in and around Boston. He was most recently President of the New England Patriots Foundation, and for three decades he worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, including 12 years as its President and CEO.

Josh’s commitment to service began with his first job out of college as an outreach coordinator at a South Boston nonprofit. There he was responsible for making sure at-risk youth attended school in the morning, regularly visiting their families at home. It was in this role that Josh saw firsthand truancy, addiction and domestic violence, but also what is possible for communities when like minded individuals engaged in a common goal.

In 1993, he founded the Boys & Girls Club in Chelsea at a time when the city and its schools were in state receivership. Located in the basement of a public housing development, Josh went door-to-door raising money from local businesses to rehabilitate the facility and organize and fund a summer basketball league coached and refereed by local police officers he had personally recruited. Josh would serve as executive director of the Chelsea Boys & Girls Club for the next 15 years, building and managing an extremely loyal staff and deeply engaged local Board, leading major local fundraising campaigns and piloting innovative programming to create a safe haven for thousands of young people in one of Massachusetts’ most underserved communities.

Unanimously selected to serve as the Boys & Girls Club of Boston’s President and CEO in 2008, Josh fostered a community of more than 200 program partners throughout Boston and Chelsea, doubling the club’s budget to $26 million and leading a five-year campaign which raised nearly $132 million. During his tenure, Josh doubled the organization’s membership, deepened its impact and expanded its reach to Boston’s Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and Mattapan neighborhoods.

For more on Josh and the campaign, visit www.joshforboston.com

###