Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford says he will be entering race to be Toronto’s next mayor

Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford appears to be on the verge of officially entering the race to become the next Mayor of Toronto.

In an interview with the Toronto Star published on the morning of Wednesday, March 29, Bradford said: “I will be running for mayor and filing my papers.”

Election Day to select Toronto’s new mayor will be June 26. Nominations can be officially filed to run for the position as of Monday, April 3, and that is when Bradford said he will be doing so.

Bradford, 36, was first elected as Beaches-East York Councillor in 2018. He was re-elected as councillor in the 2022 municipal election.

The byelection for Mayor of Toronto became necessary after the resignation of former Mayor John Tory earlier this year. Tory had been elected to his third term as mayor in the 2022 election.

Tory, 68, resigned after details of an affair he had with a 31-year-old former staffer in his office became public. The affair is reported to have taken place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the woman no longer works for the City of Toronto.

In his interview with the Toronto Star, Bradford said he would be a “strong mayor of action” if elected in June.

Bradford will be joining in an already crowded field seeking the mayor’s job that includes a number of well-known and high-profile candidates.

While none of those saying they are seeking the job have officially registered as candidates, those who have said they will be in the race include current Toronto-St. Paul’s Councillor Josh Matlow, former Davenport Councillor Ana Bailao, former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, current Scarborough-Guildwood MPP Mtizie Hunter, urbanist Gil Penalosa, policy analyst Chloe Brown,  and former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey.

Furey is an East Toronto resident who lives in the Upper Beach area.

At its meeting today (March 29), Toronto Council is expected to declare the mayor’s seat vacant in the wake of Tory’s resignation and to then officially set the process for the June 26 byelection into motion.

Candidates seeking the mayor’s seek can officially register to run from the morning of April 3 until the afternoon of May 12.

Here is the timeline from the City of Toronto’s Clerk’s Office regarding the mayoral byelection:

Here is the timeline:

• Nominations will open Monday, April 3 at 8:30 a.m.
• Nominations will close Friday, May 12 at 2 p.m.
• Advance voting will take place Thursday, June 8 to Tuesday, June 13.
• Byelection will be held Monday, June 26.

For more information on the mayoral byelection process, please go to https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/by-election/

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