Toronto mayor, diagnosed with tumor, quits race and is replaced by brother

TORONTO – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford withdrew his re-election bid Friday as he seeks treatment for a tumor in his abdomen, dramatically ending a campaign he had doggedly pursued despite a stint in rehab and calls for him to quit amid drug and alcohol scandals. But he announced his brother would run in his place, saying “we cannot go backwards.”

Rob Ford, 49, had been widely expected to lose after a string of revelations involving crack-smoking, public drunkenness and outrageous behavior.

But Toronto won’t see the last of him anytime soon. He said he has opted to seek a City Council seat representing a district in his home suburb of Etobicoke, where his brash everyman style and conservative fiscal policies first gained a faithful following that became known as Ford Nation.

“My heart is heavy when I tell you that I’m unable to continue my campaign for re-election as your mayor,” Ford said in a statement. “I have asked Doug to run to become the next Mayor of Toronto, because we need him. We cannot go backwards.”

Doug Ford, a city councilor who has been the mayor’s most fiery defender, submitted his papers to run for mayor Friday, the deadline to sign up. He will face two other major candidates in the Oct. 27 election.

“I stand here with mixed emotions and a very heavy heart. First and foremost I am concerned about my brother,” said Doug Ford, who was surrounded by family members outside the Ford family home as he officially announced he is entering the race.

Rob Ford’s decision came two days after he was hospitalized and the tumor was discovered. Biopsy results won’t be back for a week and a definitive diagnosis is pending.

The international spotlight first fell on Ford in May 2013, when the Toronto Star and the U.S. website Gawker reported the existence of a video apparently showing the mayor inhaling from a crack pipe. He denied the existence of the video for months but finally admitted to using crack after police announced they had obtained it.

The ensuing uproar climaxed with the Toronto City Council stripping Ford of most of his mayoral powers. It lacked the authority to oust him from office because Ford was not convicted of a crime.

When reports emerged this year of a second video showing him apparently smoking crack, Ford entered rehab for two months and returned to work and campaigning in June.

Doug Ford, 49, has stood resolutely by his brother throughout the scandals, often angrily tearing into the mayor’s detractors. He once called Toronto’s police chief “biased” for saying he was disappointed in Rob Ford over the crack video.

Nelson Wiseman, a University of Toronto political science professor, said Doug Ford’s candidacy is unlikely to change the course of an election that his brother had been expected to lose.

“The Ford years in City Hall are coming to an end in a few short weeks,” Wiseman said. “After this, Toronto’s mayor will never again make it in the international news again.”

He said he expects John Tory, a moderate conservative, to continue being the front-runner, ahead of Doug Ford and leftist Olivia Chow.