Trujillo withdraws from mayor's race; what happens next?

SAY THIS MUCH for Ken Trujillo: He provided a mostly underwhelming mayoral race with a genuine holy-crap moment.

The moment came yesterday afternoon when Trujillo, a former city solicitor, unexpectedly announced that he was dropping out of the race because of concerns about his extended family in New Mexico.

The news came as a genuine surprise to Trujillo's supporters and his opponents, and gave Democrats who have been kinda-sorta toying around with the idea of running for mayor - like City Councilman Jim Kenney and City Controller Alan Butkovitz - something to think about.

"I'm really disappointed. I thought he was an outstanding candidate, and he could have been a very fine mayor," said former Gov. Ed Rendell, who arranged a get-to-know meeting for Trujillo with potential political donors.

"He just called me for [campaign] advice eight or nine days ago."

Indeed, Trujillo, 54, still seemed very much in the race as of yesterday morning. He sounded downright bullish in a lengthy interview that was published on Philadelphia magazine's website, saying he was "confident that I'm going to win."

Political observers assumed the onetime assistant U.S. attorney, who is independently wealthy, was prepared to pour millions of dollars of his own money into his campaign to give him a fighting chance against former District Attorney Lynne Abraham and state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, the presumed Democratic front-runners.

And then, suddenly, he was out.

"It is with great regret that I announce today I will no longer pursue the office of Mayor of Philadelphia. My wife, daughter and I are greatly saddened by this decision, but there are family matters that require my full attention," Trujillo said in a statement released to the media.

"I am announcing this now because I believe strongly that we must leave the door open for another candidate to enter this race."

A source who had firsthand knowledge of Trujillo's surprise announcement said he is going to have to travel regularly to New Mexico to deal with concerns involving members of his extended family.

"There's nothing scandalous going on, certainly nothing illegal," the source said.

It's thus far unclear if Trujillo will move to back Williams, Abraham or former Common Pleas Judge Nelson Diaz, who announced last week that he, too, was entering the race. All three released statements yesterday praising Trujillo's character and offering sympathy for his family problems.

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, chairman of the Democratic City Committee, said Trujillo's exit will provide an obvious boost to Diaz, who won't have to worry about fighting with Trujillo for Latino voters. Despite assumptions about Trujillo's willingness to fund his campaign, Brady noted that he still could have faced an uphill battle.

"I think he probably looked at it and realized he had to start raising a lot of money, and that's hard to do with the limits that are in place," Brady said. "The hardest thing to do in this business is call people and beg for money."

In the short term, potential candidates like Kenney and Butkovitz will have some phone calls to make.

"It certainly has changed the dynamic. I never said I was out 100 percent," Kenney said last night. "This makes me sit and think about what this means and whether or not there's a clear path. There seems to be a clearer path with him out."

Butkovitz, meanwhile, said "the fact that [Trujillo's] not a candidate makes the election more achievable for any prospective candidate."