Thomas Lopez-Pierre, a Manhattan City Council candidate infamous for a series of racially-charged, slur-filled emails attacking electoral rival Mark Levine, will end his campaign and instead focus on a run for district leader.
“I am ending my campaign for City Council because I believe we in the black and Latino community need to take responsibility for the potential loss of political leadership and need to come together and rally around beating Mark Levine,” Mr. Lopez-Pierre told Politicker this afternoon. “We need to ensure we provide black and Latino leadership in Harlem.”
Mr. Lopez-Pierre, a real estate broker, drew condemnation for repeatedly attacking Mr. Levine for being a white, Jewish candidate running in a predominately black and Latino district. In emails sent to a wide range of reporters and people in the political community, for example, Mr. Lopez-Pierre called a black developer an “uncle Tom Nigger bitch” for supporting Mr. Levine.
According to a source familiar with Mr. Lopez-Pierre’s plans, his ultimate ambition was never to defeat Mr. Levine, a candidate that had raised ten times as much money as him, but run for district leader in one part of the 69th Assembly district, which includes the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights.
The ploy, according to the source, involved Mr. Lopez-Pierre spending all of the funds from his Council campaign on the part of the district that overlapped with the Assembly district, thus raising his name recognition for the lower-level race. Indeed, according to filings, Mr. Lopez-Pierre has spent nearly all of the $10,000 he has raised.
Mr. Lopez-Pierre said he plans to run for district leader in Part A of the district and shut down his Council account shortly.
“It was the plan all along,” the source said.