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Paul Massey Unexpectedly Withdraws from NYC Mayoral Race

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On Wednesday, June 28, Paul Massey suddenly pulled out of the race for New York City mayor. The executive from Cushman & Wakefield said the cost wast too high to keep his campaign going. 

In a statement released on Wednesday, Massey said, “Unfortunately, the cost of running for office is extraordinary, and I do not see a path to raising the necessary funds to beat an incumbent mayor. I am forever indebted to my family, team and my friends for their support.”

Several business insiders were caught off-guard by Massey’s abrupt decision to withdraw. 

Red Apple Group CEO John Catsimatidis said, “Everybody was shocked.” In 2013, Catsimatidis lost in the Republican mayoral primary to Joe Lhota. On Wednesday morning, June 28, Catsimatidis was at the Yale Club for Crain’s GOP debate, at which Massey went up against Staten Island Assembly member Nicole Malliotakis.

“Why would he speak there if he was going to do this?” Catsimatidis said. Malliotakis is now left as the leading GOP contender.

His ability to raise substantial funds was seen as a major part of Massey’s campaign. Outsiders thought it would be easy for him to compete with Mayor Bill de Blasio, through donations by Massey’s many wealthy friends in the real estate industry. 

The Real Deal reports, “He modeled his candidacy on that of Michael Bloomberg’s, talking up his managerial skills and ability to successfully run a large brokerage, Massey Knakal Realty Services, which he sold for a reported $100 million to Cushman & Wakefield at the end of 2014. He even pledged to forego the city’s public matching-funds program and had a strong showing for the first filing period in January, when he posted a haul of $2.9 million. A large portion of that, however, came from $1.3 million in personal loans he made to the campaign.

As of late March, the campaign was spending much more money than it was taking in, excluding the candidate’s personal loans. The most recent filings with the New York City Campaign Finance Board show Massey’s campaign with a balance of just $607,963. So far he’s spent $5.1 million, but only raised $3 million from donors. Massey’s lent the campaign a total of $2.7 million.”

An uphill battle lay before Massey from the beginning, being an unknown face in the political realm. Althou, when he entered the race, things were looking grim for de Blasio with investigations into his fundraising, but now with the probes again the mayor dropped, de Blasio has a much better chance for re-election. 

Attacking de Blasio was a main focus of Massey’s campaign. He used the media to issue statement criticizing many of the mayor’s actions. Massey managed to secure endorsements from Independence Party of New York, Rev. Michael Faulkner, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, during his campaign.

By Rebecca Gold

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