Democratic Candidate for Congress Debbie Wachpress announced today she is dropping out of the Pennsylvania First Congressional District race.

Wachpress in a post to her campaign social media platforms cited  a”recent false narrative about who I am,” connected to a lawsuit she is named in about comments allegedly made as a  Pennsbury School Board member.

News of the lawsuit, and what she called an “offensive” attack on her as a person was reported by LevittownNow, earlier this week.

The lawsuit, filed by by former Pennsbury administrator Sherri Morett alleges Wachpress used offensive slurs used to describe black people, members of the Jewish faith, and gay men during an April 2018 Pennsbury School Board executive session, the LevittownNow.com report said.

Wachpress released a statement on Wednesday evening denying the accusations on one hand but admitting to using an offensive term during board executive session in 2018 in which she recounted a story from childhood.

Wachpress said she was called a “a dirty kike” by a classmate some 40 plus years ago, calling the lawsuit “fraudulent.”

“Unfortunately I now find myself in a situation where my family is going to suffer …it is clear to me these lies and distortions will be to big of a distraction to overcome …I am withdrawing my candidacy from the race,”she said.

Wachpress threw her support behind fellow candidate Christina Finello at the end of her statement.

“Christina has a strong grass roots campaign and will be a tenacious fighter for the people of this district.”

The remaining Democratic candidate, Skylar Hurwitz called Wachpress dropping out of the race a “surprise” and drew comparisons between the candidates, despite her endorsement of Finello.  Hurwitz said he would welcome all those that worked so hard for the Wachpress campaign to join his and continue the fight for progressive polices.

The Finello campaign did not reply to a request for comment Thursday night.

“