Lara further alleged in follow-up interviews that Nelson’s tone was “angry” and that he told Lara “bad things would happen” if he stayed in the race, prompting Lara to worry about the safety of him and his volunteer staff.
Nelson disagreed with Lara’s version of events, saying the call was friendly in nature and an earnest attempt at understanding why Lara was challenging Cook.
“I was just concerned about him, as a friend, because I ... had a feeling he was going to make a lot of enemies doing this,” Nelson said. “I remember he did get sort of nervous — as if I was making some kind of veiled gangster threat — when I said that, but it wasn’t a threat.
“I didn’t ask him to support Debbie Cook, and I didn’t ask him to drop out, either. I just repeatedly asked him what he was thinking, and why he was running.”
But Lara remembers things differently, saying the call was one of many instances in which local Cook supporters privately urged him to drop out of the race and “make way” for the mayor’s presumptive nomination. He added that he believed the Cook campaign was behind the efforts.
“It seems like this was some kind of decision that had been made by a bunch of Democrats, and that a lot of people thought it was best for me to step down — I think it’s all connected,” he said. “The Cook campaign seems to have this sense of entitlement, and it’s as though she thinks she has an exclusive right to be in this race.”
