Toronto's front-running mayoral candidates are hoping to win the votes from the supporters of Coun. Karen Stintz after she dropped out of the race for the city's top political office Thursday morning.

Stintz, who has held the Ward 16 Eglinton-Lawrence seat for 11 years, made the announcement at a news conference.

"It is with great disappointment that I am announcing my decision to exit the race to be the next mayor for Toronto," Stintz told reporters. She said she also won't be running for city council either.

Stintz entered the mayoral race in February after she stepped down from her position as the TTC chair. Not surprisingly, easing congestion in the city was a big part of her mayoral platform. She suggested on the campaign trail that the future of Toronto depended on transit expansion. Stintz's ideas, however did not gain traction and she struggled to find support in a crowded mayoral field.

In a recent Forum Research poll, Stintz trailed behind all the frontrunners, pulling in only 4 per cent of support.

"I am disappointed that my vision and ideas did not gain the traction I had hoped," she said, explaining that she doesn't have the funds to continue in the mayoral race. "I am proud of my efforts over the past six months… through my efforts I believe I made an impact on the mayoral race.”

Although Stintz was never considered a frontrunner in the mayoral race, capturing the votes from her supporters could now be the key to a successful election for the other mayoral hopefuls.

On Thursday, Rob Ford, Olivia Chow and David Soknacki made a pitch to win those voters over.

"Stintz voters obviously know that her and I share the same ideas, give or take a few issues – majority of the issues, we're on the same page and they see that," Ford told CTV Toronto.

Chow also said that she Stintz share a similar vision for the city.

"All those issues she feels passionate about is also my priority so hopefully some of the people that believe in her would then also come to my team."

Meanwhile, Soknacki said Stintz's exit from the race has left a gap in the "middle ground" which he said he hopes to fill.

"We're going to be looking at what we can do to occupy that middle ground," he said.

Stintz has not thrown her support behind any other the other candidates.

As for what's next, she plans to focus on readying her children for their return to school.

The end of her campaign was rumoured after Stintz went silent on social media in recent days. Her last Facebook update was Aug. 13, and there had not been an original tweet on her Twitter account since Aug. 17.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Natalie Johnson