TORONTO — Chris Alexander dropped out of the Toronto mayoral race on Tuesday morning, about half an hour before advance polls opened, and said he would not endorse Mayor Olivia Chow, Coun. Brad Bradford, or anyone else.He made the announcement at his campaign headquarters. "Our path to success, it became clear to me over this weekend, was not obvious and perhaps not there at all," Alexander said. "We thought we had a chance of catching up faster, it didn't happen." He said he wanted the decision made before advance voting so Torontonians could "vote for someone who is going to see their campaign through to the end." He told voters to read the platforms and pick the candidate who lined up with them.A Nanos Research poll published Tuesday put him at 4% of decided voters, against 52.4% for Chow and 42.6% for Bradford. A Liaison Strategies survey released the same day, taken October 3 and 4, had Chow at 48%, Bradford at 40% and Alexander at 9% among decided and leaning voters. North York was nearly tied, at 45% for Chow and 44% for Bradford. Liaison said 34% of respondents were unfamiliar with Alexander, and that his supporters cannot simply be counted as votes for Bradford. A Mainstreet Research poll had him at 7.2%, with Chow at 38% and Bradford at 32%..The deadline to withdraw as a candidate was Aug. 21, so Alexander is suspending a campaign rather than removing himself from the race. His name is expected to remain on ballots. He had been booked for debates Tuesday night and Wednesday night. The debate at Toronto Metropolitan University will now be Chow and Bradford only, set for 7:00 pm Tuesday.Alexander registered on July 29. He said the city was "slightly adrift" and that he wanted to give Toronto its "sense of direction back."In September, at a debate on antisemitism, he said he would consider leaving if voters wanted someone else to beat Chow. He then said that was not a wobble, that Bradford “cannot beat Chow,” and that he was not going anywhere.Advance voting runs from 10:00 am Tuesday through Oct. 11, and election day is Oct. 26. Fifty-two people are still running for mayor, on the city's candidate list.
