After a crushing defeat in the preliminary election, philanthropist Josh Kraft is dropping his bid to oust Boston Mayor Michelle Wu .

“My decision is to suspend my campaign, my candidacy for mayor as of today,” Kraft told WCVB Thursday.

Earlier this week, Wu outperformed Kraft by nearly 50 points in the preliminary election and more than 45,000 votes, according to unofficial results. As expected, Wu and Kraft secured the top two spots, meaning they would have faced off in the general election in November.

Instead, Kraft, who has never held public office, is bowing out, he said.

“The last couple days since Tuesday I’ve sat and listened to my team, our volunteers, my family, my friends, advisors,” he told WCVB. “It goes back to what I was saying at the beginning. I got into this to

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