Hoping to become the third Ford to join city politics and fill the seat where both his uncles have served, Michael Ford has signed up to run for councillor in Etobicoke North.

Earlier this year, Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford — both uncles to the new candidate, whom they call “Mikey” — were coy about whether Michael was serious about joining the race.

City records showed Friday that the son of Kathy Ford had officially signed up in Ward 2 — his uncle Doug Ford’s current ward and Rob Ford’s ward for 10 years before he became mayor in 2010.

In January, Doug Ford hinted on Jerry Agar’s Newstalk 1010 show that another Ford family member might run, but didn’t reveal who. Last month, Ford would not answer when asked directly if Michael would be putting his name forward.

Mayor Ford has previously said his nephew would run.

According to his Facebook page, Michael Ford went to high school in Etobicoke before attending business school at Humber College. His LinkedIn profile says he is expected to graduate in 2016.

Ford, according to Facebook, is a camp counsellor at Camp Kandalore in Haliburton and has been an account executive at Deco Labels and Tags, the family business run by Doug Ford and before him by Doug Ford Sr., also a politician who served as an MPP at Queen’s Park.

The Fords are said to think of themselves as the “Canadian Kennedys,” according to one source who spoke to reporter Robyn Doolittle for her book on Rob Ford, Crazy Town.

Michael, Rob and Doug Ford couldn’t be reached for comment on the candidacy Friday.

When Doug Ford took on the task of running his brother’s re-election campaign for Oct. 27, he said he would not run again in his current ward. With Michael in the race, with the support of his uncles, it seems unlikely he would sign up again.

The youngest Ford to take up politics has been seen more frequently in the public eye over last year, since the mayor has been embroiled in scandal.

He was seen loading Rob Ford’s bags into a car when the mayor first left for rehab and later turned around in Chicago.

He stood quietly by and spoke politely to reporters at a birthday party thrown for the mayor at his Scarborough campaign office while he was away at rehab.

He also appeared in recently released security videos, twice picking up the mayor’s Cadillac Escalade at the city hall parking lot after Ford brought strangers back there after a Maple Leafs game and left with strangers in a taxi on St. Patrick’s Day.

Last week, Michael Ford changed his profile picture from a casual snap with a biplane to what appears to be a campaign photo shoot pose in a suit.

Andray Domise, a local businessman also running for the Ward 2 seat, says he has no issue with Michael Ford joining the race. That’s how democracy works, he said.

But he does take issue with what he sees as the ward being treated as an “empty seat” for the Ford “dynasty.”

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“Our communities deserve a lot better than to be almost looked at as a pedestal,” Domise said.

There are currently 11 candidates registered in the Ward 2 race.

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