The candidate for Marysville City Council whose racist comments garnered widespread attention across the country late last week and over the weekend has formally withdrawn from the race.

Mayor Dan Damman said Cramer had submitted a letter withdrawing Monday — three days after he called for her to do so. City Manager Randy Fernandez said she had first come into city hall to verbally withdraw but was asked to put it in writing.

Cramer, 67, did not respond to an email and voicemail requesting comment Monday, and no one was home that afternoon. Her formal one-sentence letter to the city did not include any reasoning behind her withdrawal.

Jean Cramer's name will still be on the ballot

Despite the decision, Fernandez said her name will still appear on the Nov. 5 city election ballot. He said city officials consulted with the state and her name would have had to be withdrawn by the April 26 withdrawal date to be removed.

Cramer was one of five residents — two incumbents and two others — vying for three seats.

During a city election forum last Thursday, Cramer had been the first to respond to a question about attracting foreign-born residents to the community when she responded: “Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible.”

In a follow-up question from the Times Herald after the event, Cramer confirmed her beliefs. And referencing comments that Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Hayman had made in response to Cramer during the forum — that her son-in-law was black and she’d biracial grandchildren — Cramer added she didn’t believe people of different races should get married.

Mayor: Jean Cramer not 'fit to serve'

By Friday, Daman and other community leaders called for Cramer to withdraw. The mayor said he didn’t believe Cramer was “fit to serve as an elected official in Marysville or anywhere else.”

However, as of that afternoon, she said withdrawing wasn’t in her plans. During a separate interview, she doubled down on her comments from the previous day, adding she didn’t believe her comments were racist.

“As far as I know, as long as we’ve been here, Marysville has been a white community, a white city,” Cramer told the Times Herald. “… If we have seen a black person here and there, whatever, we’re not bothered by it. I’m not bothered by it.”

The four remaining candidates in the City Council race include Hayman, Councilman Paul Wessel, and residents Shawn Winston and Mike Deising. Former councilman, Wayne Pyden, is running unopposed to replace Damman, who isn’t seeking re-election, as Marysville’s mayor.

City Council meets regularly at 7:30 p.m. the second and fourth Monday monthly.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.