Alfonso Quiroz is withdrawing from the City Council in Jackson Heights and throwing his support to incumbent Helen Sears.
The two remaining candidates are Stanley Kalathara, who has raised $67,952, and is active in the South-Asian community, and Democratic district leader Danny Dromm, who has raised $81,087 and was endorsed by the Working Families Party. Sears, who has the Queens County Democratic Party’s endorsement, raised $119,623.
A source with first-hand knowledge of the campaign said the decision was made a few days ago, and Quiroz is spending today contacting family, friends and close supporters. The news comes as the Stonewall Democrats, a club that Quiroz belongs to, meets tonight to consider an endorsement: Sears has been supported by the group in the past but may also consider Dromm, who would be the first openly gay public politician to be elected to office in Queens.
Quiroz, raised $67,686, and is expected to hold onto the unspent portion of that for a future race.
UPDATE: I should also mention that Quiroz was as Sears' chief of staff for three years before he taking at his current job as a spokesman for Con Edison.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Quiroz worked as Sears chief of staff for three years before taking his current job as a spokesman for Con Edison.
