Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who is hospitalized for a suspected tumor in his abdomen, is dropping his bid for re-election, but his hard-charging brother, Doug, has thrown his hat into the ring. Meanwhile, Rob Ford has decided to run for councilor — after his nephew withdrew from that race.

"With the advice of my family and doctors I know I need to focus on getting better. There is much work to be done and I can't give it my all at this point," Rob Ford said in a statement. "I've asked Doug to finish what we started together, so all we've accomplished isn't washed away. I have asked Doug to run to become the next mayor of Toronto, because we need him."

Doctors have released few details about Ford's diagnosis and prognosis. “We are still in a holding pattern,” Dr. Zane Cohen, a colorectal surgeon at Mt. Sinai Hospital, told reporters on Thursday as the scandal-plagued politician underwent more scans. Ford had decided to run for re-election even after admitting to a string of misdeeds, including smoking crack and being drunk on the job. He did a stint in rehab over the summer.

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I'll say it again - If the Rob Ford saga had been written as fiction, it would have been deemed too unbelievable for publication. — robyndoolittle (@robyndoolittle) September 12, 2014

— Tracy Connor