If you want to understand Brad Bradford, the deeply polarizing and often baffling leading challenger for Toronto’s mayor, I think you need to start here — June 26, 2023.
asserted
you → want → mayor
That’s the night Olivia Chow won the mayoral byelection to replace John Tory.
asserted
Chow → ’ → Tory
It’s the night Bradford suffered a humiliating loss; he finished eighth, with less than 1.4 per cent of the vote.
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he → ’ → vote
And it’s the night he started coming — with the singular focus and forward momentum of a weasel lunging for a muskrat’s neck — for Chow’s job.
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he → ’ → job
Pause for a second and think about how strange that is.
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that → pause → second
Bradford didn’t just lose the election.
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Bradford → lose → election
He was obliterated.
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He → obliterate → ?
He barely beat joke candidate Xiao Hua Gong and notorious conspiracy theorist Chris “Sky” Saccoccia.
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He → beat → Gong
And yet, very quickly, he started telling potential supporters not just that he planned to run again but that he was going to win.
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he → start → supporters
Imagine the self belief it takes to do that — the sheer unshakable confidence in who you are and what you can do.
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you → imagine → what
Bradford managed barely 9000 votes and he walked away thinking the voters, they wanted more Brad.
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they → manage → Brad
What’s even more remarkable is that he might be right.
uncertain
he → ’ → ?
Bradford has spent the last three years campaigning like an industrial piston: relentless, repetitive and unyielding.
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Bradford → spend → piston
Almost through sheer force of will alone, he has pushed himself into a place where — less than a month out from the vote — he could very well become Toronto’s next mayor.
uncertain
he → push → vote
At this point, there’s only one thing that I think could stop Bradford’s rise.
uncertain
I → ’ → rise
It’s the same thing that got him here, something I’ve come to think of as his ineffable Bradness: that unspeakable, unshakable intensity that drives him relentlessly forward while at the same turning so many people off.
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that → ’ → people
For the last several weeks I’ve been sitting down with city hall insiders past and present.
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I → sit → insiders
I’ve been asking them two questions: “How do think you Chow has done?”; and “What do you think of Bradford?”
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you → ask → Bradford
I wanted to get a sense, outside the empty promises of campaign season, of what Chow would do with a full term and how Bradford would perform as mayor.
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Bradford → want → mayor
I’ll have more on Chow in a later column.
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I → have → column
But the Bradford conversations have been striking for their near uniformity.
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conversations → strike → uniformity
Most of the people I’ve spoken to, from across the political spectrum, don’t disagree with Bradford so much as they dislike him as a person.
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they → speak → person
Several supporters told me they found Bradford weirdly intense.
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Bradford → tell → me
Chow backers — including many who once stood with Tory — and those with no horse in this race went much further.
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who → include → race
They told me — almost to a person — that they find Bradford unprincipled and disloyal.
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Bradford → tell → person
For whatever reason, many who have worked closely with Bradford over the past eight years think he is almost uniquely unlikable.
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he → work → years
I’m not sure I’ve ever covered anyone who inspires so much personal vitriol.
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who → ’m → vitriol
Many — and not just progressives — think he would be a terrible mayor, not because he believes in awful ideas but because they don’t think he believes in anything at all.
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he → think → anything
I recently sat down with Bradford for an early breakfast at the Sunset Grill on the Danforth (his choice).
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I → sit → Danforth
As he ate his omelette with bacon, feta and tomatoes I asked why he thinks so many people feel so strongly not just about his campaign but about him personally.
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people → eat → him
He paused before answering.
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He → pause → ?
“I try my best to get along with people,” he eventually said.
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he → try → people
“I think I have a track record I could point to where I’ve done that.”
uncertain
I → think → that
He wore a blazer and jeans, a step down from his usual campaign uniform of black suits and ties.
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He → wear → suits
Over the hour plus that we spoke, he drank several cups of black coffee.
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he → speak → coffee
“If I disagree with the mayor or some of my colleagues, I’m not going to sit on my hands and pretend that I do,” he continued.
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he → disagree → hands
My job is to advocate for Beaches East York and the residents who elected me to represent them.”
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who → advocate → them
It was clearly a question Bradford had been thinking about.
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Bradford → think → ?
It’s no secret to him or his campaign that he struggles with likability.
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he → ’ → likability
I can understand why.
asserted
I → understand → ?
…and 35 more, not listed.
The Aporia
