Boston Mayor Michelle Wu dismissed assertions from her newly announced opponent Josh Kraft that she’s a leader who “does not listen” and is disconnected from community concerns, while hitting back by portraying him as a carpetbagger.

Wu responded to Kraft’s formal campaign announcement while visiting a senior center located just steps away from where he made his speech earlier in the day in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Dorchester — a political circumstance that the mayor and her team insists was coincidental, as the visit was pre-scheduled.

“To do these jobs well, you have to be in community and you have to be around,” Wu said Tuesday of Kraft’s assertions that she’s tone-deaf and doesn’t listen. “I’m interested to see that there’s going to be more showing up from some folks, what they’re going to take out of that.

“Frankly, I’m a little surprised that someone who hasn’t even voted for mayor or City Council in the city thinks that he’s ready to lead the city,” Wu told reporters.

In a statement later released by her office, Wu leveled a similar dig at Kraft’s decision to seek elected office soon after moving to Boston.

“I welcome Josh Kraft to the city,” Wu said. “I think he’ll find that Bostonians are passionate about their neighborhoods and don’t always agree. Being mayor means listening to everyone and sometimes making difficult choices to move our city forward.”

Kraft recently moved to Boston, having purchased a North End condo in October 2023 for $2.5 million, after having lived in Chestnut Hill, according to the Suffolk Registry of Deeds.

He says his ties to the community run deep, however, through his roughly 30-year stint with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, including 12 years at the helm.

Wu defended her record as mayor in her remarks to reporters, saying that she is “proud of the progress we’ve made” and “we’ll stand by all the great work that’s happening in the community and through our city departments.”

She also responded directly to Kraft’s criticism that her policies have hindered housing development in the city, and his assertions that she was “0-3” on her big campaign promises: making the MBTA free for Boston residents, putting in place a rent control program and launching a Green New Deal for Boston’s schools.

“At the state level or in other places, we have taken the steps that could put specific proposals and also work with community members to make a difference in all of the areas that matter in people’s lives,” Wu said.

“The city is in relationship with state and local government and we’re working every day to take the actions that are within our authority and also advocate for what needs to happen and can only happen from other levels of government,” she said. “With those three in particular, we have done our part and come up with some roadblocks in other spaces.”

Speaking specifically to criticism over her policies hindering housing affordability and production, Wu said that during her first term as mayor, “We have seen more affordable housing created than in a generation.”

“We’ve been pushing everything possible to make sure that the cost of housing comes down in Boston and that we’re focusing on affordability,” she said.

Wu also took aim at Kraft’s potential conflict of interest with his family’s involvement in plans to build a new stadium in Everett, which has encountered resistance from the mayor and other Boston officials over traffic and parking concerns in nearby Charlestown.

The Kraft Group and Wu administration are in what appear to be tense negotiations to hammer out a community mitigation agreement for impacts to Boston, and Kraft said he would “recuse” himself from any discussions if he were elected mayor.

“Serving as the mayor of the city, you are tasked with helping to steer decisions at every level, and when it comes to large-scale projects that present both an opportunity but also serious challenges for the city, whether it’s the impact on surrounding neighborhoods, the traffic, safety, making sure there’s a fair deal for Boston residents, it’s important to be in the mix and to be fighting for what our community members need,” Wu said.

Speaking to the tension between the two sides in the deal, Wu maintained that her administration has been left out of the planning process, saying she is still awaiting “many details” on the stadium project.

“I have still yet to receive a call from Kraft or the project proponents here,” Wu said, seemingly referring to the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who heads the Kraft Group.

“The first offer to the city, of recycling part of an agreement that Boston was not at the table for $750,000 for mitigation, is not a starting point for the conversation,” she said, mentioning the city’s $68 million mitigation agreement for a casino that was built in Everett. “We are going to continue to engage and look to secure a fair agreement for our residents representing the impacts this will have on the city.”