A number of last-minute candidates have jumped into the municipal election in Hamilton before Friday’s 2 p. m. deadline, including former councillor Terry Whitehead in Ward 8, three new candidates for mayor, and two newcomers in Ward 5, which stops current councillor Matt Francis from being acclaimed.
The municipal election is set for Oct. 26.
The city informed CBC Hamilton that the final list of nominated candidates who submitted their papers by the deadline was posted on the city’s website by late Friday afternoon. The certified candidate list will be available on Monday, according to the city.
One of these late additions is former councillor Whitehead. He served as the Ward 8 councillor from 2003 until 2018 and then as Ward 14 councillor from 2018 to 2022. In 2021, he faced sanctions from the city’s integrity commissioner for bullying staff. He decided not to seek re-election.
Last year, he came in second to Rob Cooper in a byelection for Ward 8 (central-west Hamilton Mountain), which took place after then-councillor John Paul Danko was elected federally. Cooper is also running for mayor this time around.
Whitehead will face competition in Ward 8 from Dawn Danko, who is John Paul Danko’s wife and has previously been a school board trustee and provincial candidate.
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3 wards have no incumbents
Ward 8 is one of several areas without an incumbent this fall since the current councillor isn’t running again. Councillor Jeff Beattie from Ward 10 (Stoney Creek) registered but later withdrew after becoming the Progressive Conservative candidate for the Sept. 3 byelection in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek. Similarly, there’s no incumbent in Ward 13 (Dundas) as councillor Alex Wilson won’t run again. Councillor Matt Francis of Ward 5 (east Hamilton and west Stoney Creek) will not be acclaimed since two other candidates entered just before Friday’s deadline-Ahmad Khan and Juanita Maldonado are now contesting against him. Wards 12 and 14 have fewer competitors overall. In Ward 12 (Ancaster), Fred Bennink, former chair of the police services board, will challenge current councillor Craig Cassar. Meanwhile, in Ward 14 (west Hamilton Mountain), councillor Mike Spadafora will have a rematch with his previous rival Kojo Damptey; their last race was extremely close with Damptey losing by just 79 votes.3 new mayoral candidates join the race
The three newly announced mayoral candidates as of Friday are David Mark Cherkewski, David Harrison, and Erin Janus. Cherkewski is known as an anti-poverty advocate and was part of Ontario’s basic income pilot program. He has shared his views publicly about tackling poverty and social assistance issues in Hamilton. Janus works as a musician, You Tuber, and filmmaker who creates online content covering topics like animal rights and veganism. As for Harrison, there didn’t seem to be any information available online regarding his campaign or personal background by Friday afternoon. This brings the total number of individuals vying for mayor to thirteen now that Mayor Andrea Horwath joined the race last Friday.Source link
