CALGARY – Food activist, Paul Hughes, best known for the chickens he illegally keeps in his backyard, has become the second candidate to withdraw from the Calgary’s mayoral race Friday.
And like Alnoor Kassam, Hughes threw his support behind the news-anchor-turned-candidate Barb Higgins.
"I felt like she really embraced the issues I was standing for," said Hughes, citing better transit and city-hall culture as his issues, along with food policy.
Hughes ran his shoestring campaign largely on social-media websites Facebook and Twitter. He admits he didn’t actually take out nomination papers ahead of Monday’s filing deadline.
But in a crowded field of better known, better financed and better organized candidates, Hughes conceded his chances were slim.
"I see the writing on the wall, and I accomplished pretty much what I wanted to accomplish," he said. “This has never been about paul hughes — it’s been about the issues."
There are now 15 declared candidates vying to replace three-term Mayor Dave Bronconnier. Higgins and Ald. Ric McIver are widely viewed as the frontrunners.
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