The Philadelphia Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for mayor has quit the race less than one month after revealing to The Daily Caller News Foundation she hasn’t held a paid job in eight years due to mental illness.
Daphne Goggins announced her withdrawal in a Facebook Live video Monday, one day before the deadline to submit the 1,000 signatures required to get on the primary ballot on May 21.
“I was only able to get 731 signatures all in total. I see no path to 1,000,” said Goggins, the first black woman to receive the endorsement of the Philadephia GOP. Goggins said the local party gave her “no support” in collecting signatures for her nomination petition.
“I began to realize the rumors about the Philadelphia Republican Party just might be true,” she said. “The Philadelphia Republican Party is not ready at this time to support a minority candidate. They have no plan on how to embrace and move into the minority community.”
Goggins received the endorsement of the Philadephia GOP on Feb. 13, but soon afterward she came under fire when her Republican opponent, Billy Ciancaglini, revealed she has been financially reliant on federal disability benefits since 2010.View image on Twitter
Goggins then told TheDCNF in February she treats for “bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety.” She said her mental illnesses materialized after she stopped snorting cocaine in 2005.
Goggins said she had what it takes to serve as mayor of the nation’s sixth-largest city because “the people that mostly do the work are his cabinet, and I have the ability to appoint a cabinet.”
Philadelphia Republican Party chairman Michael Meehan announced the party will form a committee to vet future candidates following the publication of the interview.
“Many members alarmed that they were previously unaware of many of the subjects contained in your article of Daphne’s on-the-record comments,” Meehan told TheDCNF in February.
In addition to ending her campaign for Philadelphia mayor, Goggins also said she was resigning from her position as ward leader to head up a new organization dedicated to supporting minority Republican candidates in the city.
“We will be forming our own black Republican coalition and we invite any Republican who wishes to see us spread our Republican message of lower taxes, individual freedom, law-abiding citizenship and personal responsibility to our inner cities to join us,” she said.
Goggins said she will not support Ciancaglini’s bid for mayor.
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