Katz out of 2011 Philadelphia Mayoral primary

The habitual candidate won’t say whether he will run as a Republican.

One candidate is out of Philadelphia’s 2011 Democratic mayoral primary before he even got started. It might not be the last heard from Sam Katz, who has run for Mayor three times so far.

Sam Katz’s statement came with the opening sentence “I will not be a candidate in the 2011 Democratic Primary for mayor.” Katz says after weighing his options of a run in the primary, he decided the odds are too bad.

“I’ve always been in uphill fights for this job. Most people’s view of this was you can’t beat an incumbent and that there are other factors at work make an insurgent candidacy a long-shot and getting people to participate in a campaign in which conventional wisdom is so powerful was an issue.”

Katz has run repeatedly and lost as a Republican, but did not answer the question directly about if he would run again as the Republican candidate next year.

“Well in 1991 a ran for mayor of Philadelphia against Frank Rizzo and Ron Castille and after that campaign was over I said I would never run again, so I am not saying that again.”

Katz repeated that statement twice when pressed on the issue.