Wu accuses Kraft of deceptive fundraising in Boston mayor’s race, but Kraft says claims are ‘bogus’
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's campaign cried foul to state campaign finance regulators this week over fundraising appeals from her opponent, philanthropist Josh Kraft.
Recent fundraising emails solicited donations for the Kraft campaign in the voice of prominent national Democrats also running for public office, according to screenshots of the messages shared with MassLive.
The emails appeared to press donors to rush funds to candidates like former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a candidate for U.S. Senate, and Texas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, with the donations to be split with the Kraft campaign.
The Wu campaign called the practice "deceptive" and said it was not clear from the messages that half the donations would go to Kraft.
But Kraft's team slammed Wu's complaint as "legally and substantively bogus," arguing that the practice of donation splitting is common in Democratic Party fundraising.
The campaign shared examples of similar fundraising appeals from other Massachusetts Democrats.
One email flagged by the Wu campaign, which was signed by Cooper but originated from the email address "info@joshforboston.com," read: "We all know that this isn't going to be an easy race to win. We're in for a long, expensive fight no matter what — and Republicans are preparing, too."
"Click here to split a contribution between our campaign and Josh Kraft," the email said.
Other emails sought split donations between Kraft and U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell or U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, both of California, or Shawn Harris, a retired brigadier general who's now a congressional candidate in Georgia.
None of them appeared to have publicly weighed in on the Boston mayoral race.
"In all cases, the images and messaging of these candidates, not Josh Kraft, dominate the email solicitations and web pages. Only a careful reading of fine print would convey that, in reality, half of any contribution to help Roy Cooper regain Democratic control of the U.S. Senate will be directed to Josh Kraft," the Wu campaign wrote in a letter to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, requesting an investigation.
Massachusetts campaign finance laws allow campaigns to fundraise for other candidates.
But regulators also require clear language to ensure potential donors are aware that their contribution will be split between campaigns, Wu's campaign treasurer, Robert D. Binney, wrote.
"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," he wrote.
In response, the Kraft campaign shared screenshots of similar fundraising emails.
One appeared to be from U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., seeking donations that would be split with U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-6th District.
The latter email was sent by "team@sethmoulton.com."
Other screenshots showed emails apparently sent on behalf of U.S Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., but seeking donations to be split with U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., or former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, a 2022 candidate for Senate.
The emails originated from the Booker or Barnes campaigns.
The Kraft campaign also shared a screenshot of the webpage on ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform, where donors could split donations to the Kraft and Swalwell campaigns.
The Kraft campaign said the page clearly informed donors that their contributions would be split between the two candidates.
The Office of Campaign and Political Finance, or OCPF, does not confirm the existence of complaints or investigations. But it does review every complaint it receives, Jason Tait, the office's spokesperson, wrote in an email to MassLive.
All decisions issued by the office become public, he said. As of Tuesday afternoon, it did not appear that regulators had notified the Kraft campaign of campaign finance violations.
Renee Schaeffer, a spokesperson for Harris, the Georgia congressional candidate, said the campaign did not approve of the fundraising email from Kraft's operation and is not supporting his campaign.
Both Schiff and Swalwell also asked Kraft to stop using their names in fundraising emails, according to the Boston Globe.
In a statement to the paper, campaign spokesperson Eileen O'Connor attributed the emails to "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," she said. "As a result, we are moving to shut down the links and terminate our agreement with the consulting firm."
Representatives for Schiff, Swalwell, Crockett and Cooper did not respond to requests for comment from MassLive.
With a month until Boston's preliminary election, the race between Wu and Kraft has turned sour. Alongside dueling policy ideas, the candidates have traded insults and accusations that each campaign violated campaign finance law.
In June, amid complaints from Wu that the Kraft staff were improperly coordinating activities with a political action committee, the Kraft campaign accused Wu of misusing public funds for the campaign and having City Hall staff working on the mayor's race during business hours.
Wu denied the claims.
A recent poll of the mayoral race from the Globe and Suffolk University showed Wu with a commanding 59% to 29% lead over Kraft. Two other candidates who will appear on the September ballot, Robert Capucci and Domingos DaRosa, are polling at 0.8% and 2.8% respectively, with 6.6% of respondents still undecided.
The preliminary election on Sept. 9 will narrow the mayoral field to two candidates who will head to the general election on Nov. 4.
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