A man who served time for the racially-motivated drive-by shooting of a black man in Texas 23 years ago is running for a seat on Toronto city council.

Christopher Brosky filed his nomination papers in June for Ward 28 — Toronto Centre-Rosedale — where he’ll go up against longtime incumbent Pam McConnell this fall.

Brosky, described as a neo-Nazi skinhead, was 16 when he and two friends killed a 32-year-old man named Donald Thomas outside Thomas’s Arlington home, the New York Times said. According to the report, the friends, one of whom was found to have pulled the trigger, pleaded guilty to murder and testified against Brosky.

“Does it have any relevance in Canada though?” Brosky asked rhetorically.

“My biggest crime was choosing some pretty poor friends. At 16 years old you are not very smart.”

The city’s Municipal Elections Act only prohibits candidates currently “serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution.”

Brosky served 16 years in prison, before being released and deported back to Canada.

When asked about the swastika he wears around his neck, he denied he’s a racist.

“I do know people,” he said. “I know a lot of people, but I know a lot of people on a broad range of political beliefs and ideals.”

Election day is Oct. 27.