Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is kicking off her campaign for re-election with a strong lead over her opponent Josh Kraft, according to an Emerson College poll released Thursday.

A proposal by Mayor Wu's challenger is not really rent control in the traditional sense, experts say. But his embrace of the term appears to be a calculated move.

Michelle Wu holds a double-digit lead over philanthropist Josh Kraft in the race for Boston mayor, a new poll from Emerson College finds. The preliminary election to narrow the field down to two candidates is in September. The poll asked more than 600 registered voters who they would vote for if the election were held today.

Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft said Mayor Michelle Wu deserves some heat as well for the city’s failure to clear sidewalks of snow and ice after Wu said 1,200 citations were issued to

The endorsement is the first time in more than 30 years that the city's largest police union has supported a Boston mayor for reelection, the union said.

Boston’s largest police officers' union will endorse incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu for reelection on Thursday afternoon, its leadership said. The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association said its members voted “overwhelmingly” to support Wu at the union’s most recent monthly meeting.

Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft says the city’s growing payroll, boasting more than 500 employees who earned more than $300,000 last year, is the “latest example” that more fiscal responsibility is needed at City Hall.

The survey offers the first early look at the matchup between the first-term progressive mayor and her most prominent challenger.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu leads billionaire philanthropist Josh Kraft in the first poll of the city’s young mayoral campaign, but a decent share of voters remain up for grabs. Forty-three percent of respondents to the new Emerson College poll say they support the Democratic incumbent,