Four Boston mayoral candidates participated in a forum inside Suffolk University's Modern Theatre on May 15, 2025. The candidates, from left to right: Josh Kraft, Domingos DaRosa, Alex Alex, and Mayor Michelle Wu. (Photo by Gintautas Dumcius)

FOUR YEARS AGO around this time, mayoral candidates in Boston and elsewhere found themselves staring at computer screens and pitching themselves to voters who were considering who should succeed Marty Walsh as the city’s next chief executive. 

The Covid pandemic that drove changes to public and political life may have dissipated, but its ripple effects were still felt in the issues that came up at a Thursday night forum, when Mayor Michelle Wu sat shoulder to shoulder with some of the people looking to challenge her. 

From city finances to education, the candidates took turns taking questions on a stage inside the 111-year-old Modern Theatre, the building now owned by Suffolk University and largely used for housing students in the floors above. 

The pandemic hit the area around the Modern Theater hard, as workers who became accustomed to doing their job at home were slow to return to downtown Boston. That’s had a negative impact on commercial property values, which are linked to property taxes that the city depends on. 

Mayoral candidate Josh Kraft, a nonprofit executive and son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, said city officials should put “everything on the table to bring sources of revenue to the city,” including incentivizing businesses to move to Boston.  

Wu said city budget officials are “cinching our belt even tighter,” exercising fiscal discipline by cutting hundreds of jobs that have been vacant. But she also took her first shot of the night at Kraft, pointing to his stance that the city should cut two percent from the budget. That translates into cutting police, fire and city services, she said.

Kraft in turn panned her argument that the city couldn’t find small amounts in a $4.6 billion budget that can be cut. “I just find that hard to believe,” he said. 

“It’s easy to stand on the sidelines when you’re new to the city, new to city policymaking and say cut cut cut and not say from where,” Wu shot back, referring to Kraft moving into Boston in late 2023, ahead of his mayoral run. 

Two other candidates on the stage – Hyde Park activist Domingos DaRosa and Alex Alex, who decided to run after he was unable to get a city job – had their own ideas. DaRosa said the city should extract more money out of tourists who come into the city, and he suggested conducting an audit to root out misappropriated spending, while Alex suggested stricter traffic enforcement and the implementation of congestion pricing, which charges drivers a fee if they enter the city at certain times of the day. The concept has seen success this year in New York City. 

The mayoral forum, which lasted roughly two hours, was put together by Democratic groups and moderated by GBH News reporter Saraya Wintersmith. Wu and Kraft are so far the only candidates who have gathered more than the 3,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, while another dozen have expressed interest in running. 

If more than two candidates get enough voter signatures by May 20, the city plans to hold a nonpartisan preliminary in September, which will winnow the field to two finalists in November. 

The candidates also touched on K-12 education and higher education. Asked for their priorities on improving Boston Public Schools, Wu noted that the pandemic disrupted school learning, but attendance and graduation rates are up. 

Kraft said he would focus on increasing literacy rates, especially in the younger grades, and expand access to vocational education.  

As for the colleges and universities that power Boston’s economy, Kraft defended their focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has come under attack from the Trump administration. “DEI is a crucial part of education because the more diverse an administration is, professorships are, the more you learn, the more experiences you can share with students so people have a deeper understanding,” he said. 

Wu said Boston should continue speaking up against the Trump administration to “create space” for universities to stand up against intimidation from Washington, D.C. 

DaRosa said he would like to see universities pay more in taxes to the city, while Alex called the Trump crackdown on higher education the “perfect opportunity” to reshape academia, which has benefited from the slave trade and been the “lapdogs of tyrants.” 

All the mayoral contenders were asked which Boston ward they live in. The boundaries of wards, a combination of precincts, are used to define key political sections in cities and towns. 

Wu, who lives in Roslindale, said Ward 18, as did Hyde Park’s DaRosa. 

“I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know,” said Kraft. Alex, who lives in Dorchester, also said he didn’t know. 

As the forum wrapped up, Wu leaned over to Kraft and held up three fingers, letting him know he lives in Ward 3.