Two Boston Mayoral Candidates Have Raised Over $1 Million This Cycle

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2021/04/30/two-boston-mayoral-candidates-have-raised-over-1-million-this-cycle/

How much money does it take to become the next mayor of Boston?

One could raise more than $1 million and still lose?

There are eight people running to be the mayor of Boston — and most of them have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars since last year, according to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance as of Friday, April 30.

Of those candidates, city councilor Andrea Joy Campbell led the pack; she had raised $1,146,644.49 in that span. However, she was not the only candidate who had raised more than $1 million thus far. The other was Michelle Wu, who wants to be Boston’s first Asian-American mayor. She had raised $1,100,262.24 as of Friday morning. 

Campbell and Wu had significant fund-raising advantages over the other candidates in the race.

After them, fellow city councilor Annissa Essaibi George was in third. She had raised $751,855.72. That’s nearly $350,000 less than Wu raised in that same span. Meanwhile, state Representative Jon Santiago (D-South End) was the only other candidate in the race who had raised at least half a million dollars. His total was $587,270.08.

Kim Janey, the city council president who has served as the acting mayor of Boston since March 22, was fifth on the list with $324,131.43 raised. 

John Barros, who served as the chief of economic development for the city of Boston from 2014 to 2021, had raised $281,981. Barros, who was on the Boston School Committee from 2010 to 2013, also ran for mayor in 2013, but failed to advance to the general election.

The other two candidates in the race were well behind in the fund-raising game.

Former account manager Michael Bianchi, who has never held elected office, had three contributions totaling $544.12. One of those was a $500 contribution from himself. And retired Boston police officer Robert Cappucci, a member of the Boston School Committee from 1987 to 1991, had no reported campaign contributions; Cappucci also ran for mayor in 2017, albeit unsuccessfully.

A WBUR poll released earlier this month shows that there is no clear favorite in the mayoral race. It had Wu at 19 percent and Janey at 18 percent with the rest of the candidates in the single digits. However, 46 percent of voters polled said they were undecided in the race.

The preliminary round of the mayoral election will most likely take place on September 14 this year. The top-two vote getters will advance to the November 2, 2021 general election.

 

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