Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich Will Not Run For Mayor This Year

QUEENS — NYC's 32nd District Councilman Eric Ulrich tweeted Monday that he will not be running for mayor this year and that he will seek to be re-elected to the City Council instead.

Speculations that Ulrich might face de Blasio in the coming elections grew after he formed the campaign committee, Ulrich 2017, in May 2016. Had he been able to raise more money, the council member would have been in a position to take on de Blasio, he told NY1 during an interview Monday.

"If you look at his lackluster performance and his inability to bring people together in this city, I think that he absolutely can be a one-term mayor, and I think he can be beat," Ulrich told NY1.

de Blasio won over 70 percent of votes in 2013 when he beat Joe Lhota in the mayoral race for NYC, where Democrats easily outnumber Republicans.

Ulrich has described himself as a moderate Republican, who is "fiscally conservative and socially liberal." He is one of the three Republican council members in NYC. He told NY1 that he will be endorsing the Republican candidate for the mayor's seat.

The declared Republican candidates for the 2017 mayoral elections include businessman Paul Massey, Law and Order actor Darren Dione Aquino and former Jets player Michel Faulkner.

Ulrich, the only Republican council member of Queens, has represented the 32nd District (which includes Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Neponsit, Ozone Park, Rockaway Park, Roxbury, Seaside, Woodhaven) since 2009 and was re-elected in 2013.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'll be around," Ulrich concluded the NY1 interview.

Photo via Councilman Ulrich's office