Toronto's mayoral race is starting to feel like an episode of the recently concluded hit TV drama Succession, as big names hand out endorsements — and major snubbings — in the eleventh hour of the campaign for the city's top job.

If Toronto politics are an episode of Succession, one candidate's high-profile nosedive from contender status to a laughable longshot makes him an easy nomination for the episode's Kendall Roy stand-in.

Brad Bradford seemed like a likely candidate for Toronto's next mayor when the current city councillor threw his hat in the ring for the June 26 mayoral by-election.

But his polling support has plummeted throughout a cringe-heavy campaign, and not even the humanizing qualities of having a cute baby weeks before the election has managed to help his numbers, now tracking at a "why are you even still running" three per cent.

The campaign's death knell came on Wednesday when former mayor John Tory threw his support behind Bradford rival Ana Bailao in a video statement, months after a photo emerged suggesting that Tory was preparing to back Bradford.

Thank you, John Tory! pic.twitter.com/h3YYmelAFN

— Ana Bailão (@anabailaoTO) June 21, 2023

MultiBrad was spotted back in mid-April having a drink with former City Hall ally and disgraced ex-mayor John Tory on the patio of Terroni on Yonge, leading the public to believe that the city councillor was lined up as Tory's heir apparent.

Tory's subsequent snubbing of Bradford drew immediate comparisons to the dashed hopes of Succession character Kendall Roy, who, like Bradford, was passed over by a media empire executive who was expected to pass the proverbial torch to his apparent protege.

Brad Bradford right now. https://t.co/OIfvhbJ6fS pic.twitter.com/XdU3iA28dJ

— Dan Seljak (@anotherglassbox) June 21, 2023

A handful of Twitter users dug up the April photo, adding captions referencing the Succession-esque drama playing out in the Toronto municipal politics scene.

Not the only Succession drama Mayor Rogers has chosen to involve himself in https://t.co/WKgAbZ92fM

— Sean Marshall (@Sean_YYZ) June 21, 2023

Someone even took the liberty of photoshopping a dejected Brad Bradford onto the body of the fictional Kendall Roy.

pic.twitter.com/93OZddilFB

— Dan Seljak (@anotherglassbox) June 21, 2023

The political right is scrambling to consolidate support behind a single candidate, but they clearly aren't seeing eye to eye. Tory's endorsement of Bailao came on the same day as Premier Doug Ford's endorsement of controversial former police chief Mark Saunders.

The premier, who created strong mayor powers for his buddy John Tory, is now facing the grim (for him at least) reality that the first person to wield these powers could be Olivia Chow, who holds a commanding 31 per cent in polls.

Ford said that a Chow mayoralty would be an "unmitigated disaster" on Wednesday, though he could have made that outcome more likely by further splintering the right and right-of-centre vote with his endorsement of Saunders.

Just four days remain before Toronto voters hit the polls to elect Toronto's next mayor.