DiPasquale drops out of mayor’s race

Frank DiPasquale has withdrawn from the mayor’s race in Amherstburg.

One of the candidates running for mayor in the Oct. 26 municipal election has withdrawn.

Frank DiPasquale has dropped out of the race, citing family reasons as a main factor why. 

“I would love to stay in the race,” he said. “This is a roller coaster here. We foster children. Things are taking more time than expected.”

DiPasquale added his home is a respite site, so that impacts the amount of time he would have for a mayoral run. He added he also wants to focus on spending time with his own family.

“I’m confident in the people running the town,” he said. “I think we need a little change on the council side.”

DiPasquale said he is endorsing Frank Cerasa for mayor and Bill Petruniak for deputy mayor and listed five people he would back for councillor, though some of those haven’t officially entered the race yet.

“It was a tough decision to bow out,” said DiPasquale. “I’d love to represent this community. I’d love to do things for the community to move things forward for the children.”

DiPasquale said the town has lost much of its industry and supporting local business is all the more important. He said he thanks everyone who is running and the council that takes over later this year will have to grow with keeping the small town charm.

“We need to support small business here in this area,” said DiPasquale.

Stating he thought about running for deputy mayor or councillor, DiPasquale added he decided to stay out of the 2026 election race altogether.

“The new council will have major challenges,” he predicted.

Also in the mayor’s race are incumbent Michael Prue and Chris Gibb, the latter being the current deputy mayor. 

Linden Crain, a current councillor, is running for deputy mayor along with Petruniak. Officially filed for councillor as of press time are T.J. Botsford, Saurabh Katara, Lena Lazanja, Shawn LeBlanc, Tony Pietrangelo and Dhaval Prajapati. 

Others who wish to file can do so until nomination day, which is Aug. 21 at 2 p.m.

DiPasquale drops out of mayor’s race

By Ron Giofu