Sarah Thomson quits Toronto mayoral race in bid to 'stop Rob Ford'

Sarah Thomson speaks to reporters at Toronto City Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014.

A week after asking supporters whether she should drop out of the Toronto mayoral race to run for city council, Sarah Thomson announced she is no longer in the running for Toronto City Council's top job.

On Sept. 3, Thomson posted a poll on her website, asking whether she should continue in the race for mayor. On Tuesday, she filed the paperwork to run for a council seat, effectively ending her mayoral campaign, while urging other candidates to stop Rob Ford from winning.

Surrounded by a group of supporters wearing red T-shirts, Thomson signed the papers at City Hall before addressing media.

"We've done some polling and we've seen that Rob Ford and John Tory are neck-and-neck," Thomson said.

"I'm calling on everyone who is trailing to look at what the polling numbers are, the day before the election if they have to wait, but we all have to come together as a city and stop Rob Ford from getting in."

Thomson advised other candidates to follow her lead, and throw their support behind the candidate with the best chance of beating Ford.

She's running in Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina.

Thomson's campaign made headlines before it began, when the candidate rode up to City Hall on a horse in downtown traffic to file her papers to run for mayor.

A week later, she published a spoof video of the song "Timber" by Pitbull and Kesha, focusing on Toronto transit issues.

In August, she asked the other mayoral candidates to take drug and alcohol tests to prove they had no addiction or abuse issues.

The candidate later told media she would give free Viagra to low-income seniors and require police to have martial arts training, if elected.

Only two weeks after the promise, Thomson announced she was dropping out.

Thomson also ran for mayor in 2010, but dropped out of the race in Sept. 28. Her withdrawal was too late for her name to be removed from the ballot, and she received 1,883 votes, or 0.232 per cent. She ran as a Liberal candidate in the 2011 provincial election in the Trinity-Spadina riding, and came second to the NDP incumbent by 1,139 votes.