Josh Kraft says $6.3M income in 2024 came from ‘the family business’

Boston Mayoral candidate Josh Kraft defended his decision not to release his tax returns on Wednesday, saying he had done more than what was legally required of him as a political candidate.

Kraft, the son of New England Patriots and Revolution owner Robert Kraft and former president of the New England Patriots Foundation, revealed earlier this month that he had received $6.3 million in income in 2024. However, he did not specify the source of that income.

When asked about his finances during an appearance on WGBH’s Boston Public Radio on Wednesday, Kraft revealed the income came from ‘the family business.

“Where else would it come from?” he said.

Kraft disclosed the income information, as well as information about his charitable donations, after pressure from his opponent, Mayor Michelle Wu, to release his tax returns. Wu released her own 2024 tax return in May, revealing about $184,000 in gross income for the year, the Boston Globe reported at the time.

Kraft said Wednesday that he could not release more detailed information about his investments, as they were held in a blind trust. However, when radio host Jim Braude pressed him about whether voters had the right to know what a candidate invests in, Kraft acknowledged he had some personal investments in ‘random stocks,’ giving Disney as one example.

“Why not leave the studio and just say, ‘Here are all my investments. Here are the companies, other than the blind trust companies?’” Braude asked.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” Kraft said. “But I can tell you I disclosed more than was legally required of any candidate to disclose. There’s a lot of candidates that don’t disclose anything.”

Campaign records show Kraft has invested $2 million of his own money into his campaign. However, the most recent campaign finance report showed that his campaign account had just under $148,000 on hand at the end of July, compared to Wu, who had almost $2.5 million.

Kraft said Wednesday he did not yet know if he would put any more of his own money toward the mayoral race.

“I’m going against the power of incumbency,” he said. “Mayor Wu, to her credit, has been a city councilor or mayor for 13-plus years. She’s been able to build national and local networks for fundraising. But if we’re going to give people an honest choice, yeah, I have to loan myself money.”