In 2022, Brett Smiley, a relative moderate, became mayor of Providence after vowing to address housing and public safety. In 2023, a Democrat who favored forcibly removing homeless people and said he wanted to make the City Council more conservative won in Portland, Maine.

Mayor Wu is both gearing up for a competitive race against Kraft and preparing to testify before Congress about Boston's "sanctuary" policies.

Josh Kraft, the son of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, will formally launch his campaign for mayor of Boston on Tuesday.