Bloomberg Won’t Endorse in NYC Mayoral Race

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Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks to reporters after his meeting with Vice President Joe Biden at the White House on Feb. 27, 2013

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday on local radio that he will not endorse a candidate in the city’s general election in November.

The announcement ends speculation that the mayor, a Democrat-turned-Republican who ran for his third term in 2009 as an independent, would endorse Republican nominee Joseph Lhota.

“I don’t want to do anything that complicates it for the next mayor and that’s one of the reasons I’ve decided I’m just not gonna make an endorsement in the race,” Bloomberg said on the John Gambling radio show.

Bloomberg had unofficially supported the campaign of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a Democrat, but his administration has been strongly critical of the likely nominee Bill de Blasio. De Blasio, who campaigned as the “anti-Bloomberg,” finished far ahead of the other candidates in Tuesday’s primary in the heavily Democratic city, but it’s still unclear if he will face a runoff with the runner-up.

[Capital New York]