BOSTON, MA – October 13: Mayoral candidate Michelle Wu speaks on transportation issues at the Readville MBTA Station on October 13, 2021 in Readville, BOSTON, MA. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
A new challenger to Michelle Wu announced his candidacy for Boston mayor Monday, with another reportedly interested in joining the race, according to reports.
Boston community activist Domingos DaRosa, 47, filed his candidacy as an independent Monday, according to The Boston Globe, which also reported that Thomas O’Brien, CEO of real estate developer The HYM Investment Group, has expressed interest in running as a Democrat.
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Mayor Michelle Wu is seeking re-election and Josh Kraft, whose father Robert Kraft owns the New England Patriots, has already announced his candidacy.
Kraft, 57, is the former CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Boston and highlighted lowering the cost of housing in his campaign announcement.
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O'Brien, 61, has also been encouraged to run over concerns about affordable housing and rising property taxes by residents and business leaders, according to the Globe. He's served as the top planning chief under former mayor Thomas Menino but, similar to Kraft, has never previously run for office.
DaRosa, 47, ran campaigns for at-large Boston city council seats in 2017, 2019 and 2021. He also led the Boston Bengals Pop Warner youth football program.
He told the Globe that improving Boston's public schools and addressing the opioid crisis would be top priorities of his campaign. The Pop Warner program was ended in 2022 due to unsafe conditions and drug activity around the Clifford Park in Roxbury.
"This park was a safe haven for the kids in my community, and now those same kids — that we call at-risk — are losing, on top of other things, they're losing a park that should be a safe haven," DaRosa said in 2022.
DaRosa is a graduate of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Roxbury, and he hopes to further support vocational education as mayor, according to the Globe.
Boston residents will first vote for mayor in September, and the two candidates with the most votes will proceed to a run-off in November.
