The Campaign. We don’t typically cover local politics. But hey, let’s dip into the Boston mayoral race. Josh Kraft, the son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, is running for mayor against Democratic incumbent Michelle Wu.
In a campaign ad, Kraft — a Democrat — stated that he and Wu agree that “Trump is unhinged.” Remember, Robert Kraft donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s first inauguration and has been an acquaintance of the president for years.
The ad continues: “But Trump isn’t why Boston is the most expensive city in America to raise a family. It’s Mayor Wu who raised our taxes. She spent over 100 million on a soccer stadium for billionaires instead of housing for the middle class. I’m Josh Kraft. As mayor, I’ll fight Trump and make Boston more affordable.”
See the ad here.
NJ-7: Healthcare for Action PAC, a Boston-based group that seeks to elect health-care professionals to Congress, is endorsing Dr. Tina Shah in the crowded Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 7th District. GOP Rep. Tom Kean, Jr., holds this critical swing seat.
Shah, a former Obama and Biden administration official, is an ICU doctor. She says Kean — first elected to the House in 2022 — is wrong to support Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who she accuses of undermining federal health-care programs.
NJ-7 is a key battleground district in the fight for the House. Joe Biden carried it in 2020, but Trump won it in 2024.
Downtown Download. The District of Columbia Fire Fighters Association, IAFF Local 36 has hired Stryk Global Diplomacy to help facilitate “District of Columbia interactions with U.S. Congress.”
The crypto sector has a new letter out today that pushes back on recent calls for amendments to the GENIUS Act from banks, consumer advocates and state regulators.
The joint letter from the Blockchain Association and Crypto Council for Innovation argues that those changes would “create an uncompetitive payment stablecoin environment, protecting banks at the expense of broader industry growth.”
Nvidia, the chip giant, has hired the Vogel Group to lobby on “[i]ssues related to international trade in the semiconductor industry” and issues “related to artificial intelligence.”
