The race for mayor in Mississauga for 2026 is now a six-candidate competition – at least for the moment – as another contender has withdrawn from the running.
Rahul Mehta stepped back last week, then promptly signed up to run for the Ward 8 seat on city council, a position he also aimed for in 2022. The current officeholder, Matt Mahoney, who also acts as one of the city’s two deputy mayors, remains the only other candidate thus far in the Ward 8 contest.
Mehta is now the second mayoral candidate to exit this race, joining former contender George Tavares, who dropped out several weeks ago.
Tavares had previously campaigned for mayor in both 2022 and again during the June 2024 byelection. He later decided to enter the race for the Ward 7 council seat on June 4.
The Ward 7 election features ten candidates competing for a council position in the upcoming municipal vote scheduled for October 26.
And so it stands with six candidates … at least for now
The current lineup of mayoral candidates includes six individuals, featuring incumbent Carolyn Parrish, who won her position during a byelection in June 2024 after Bonnie Crombie stepped down.
Current Mississauga city councillors Alvin Tedjo (Ward 2) and Dipika Damerla (Ward 7) are also running for mayor alongside David Shaw, Mike Matulewicz, and Olivia Gannon.
Shaw participated in both the recent mayoral byelection and the municipal election of 2022 while Matulewicz was one of twenty contenders in that same byelection two years prior.
Candidate nominations opened on May 1 and will remain open until August 21 at 2 p. m.
For more details about who’s running, how to register as a candidate, and general election information, check out the city’s online election page.
Could a familiar name rejoin the race?
Speculation has surfaced again that Crombie might be considering another attempt at reclaiming her old role as Mississauga’s mayor. She left her post earlier this year to lead Ontario Liberals but hinted late last year that she wouldn’t rule out running again.
Crombie’s party faced significant defeat against Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives during February’s provincial elections. After serving as mayor from 2014 until early this year when she resigned as Ontario Liberal leader on January 14, she has sparked interest about possibly returning to politics locally.
Parrish shared with INsauga. com during an interview late last year that she’d welcome Crombie’s potential return to compete again – just like Crombie indicated herself – stating it would present “a fabulous challenge” adding “I’d love it. We don’t think alike.”
“.. I would look forward to a debate with Bonnie Crombie.”
Crowded races expected in Wards 5 and 7
A list of other candidates who have registered their intention to run for Mississauga city council by Wednesday afternoon (June 24) includes:
Stephen Dasko – Ward 1 (incumbent) Leeann Cole – Ward 2 Chris Fonseca – Ward 3 (incumbent) Kim Pines – Ward 3 Stjepan Vukovic – Ward 3 John Kovac – Ward 4 (incumbent) Natalie Hart – Ward 5 (incumbent) Ismail Bawa – Ward 5 Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal – Ward 5 Aruna Anand – Ward 5 Raghavan Babu Bhogaiah – Ward 5 Vipan Singh Mehta – Ward 5 Joe Horneck – Ward 6 (incumbent) Amir Ali – Ward 7 Joel Binda – Ward7 Maisa Salhia-Ward7 Leslie Zurek-Silvestri-Ward7 Asha Falinski-Ward7 Ahsan Khokhar-Ward7 Naila Saeed-Ward7 Amitabh Srivastava-Ward7 George Tavares-Ward7 Hazra Wade-Ward7 Matt Mahoney-Ward8 (incumbent) Rahul Mehta-Ward8 Martin Reid-Ward9(incumbent) Ramsha Haq-Ward9 Anwar Knight-Ward9 Mohammad Shabbeer-Ward9 Syed Jaffery-Ward9 Sue Mc Fadden-W ard10( incumbent ) Suha Hashim-W ard10 Brad Butt-W ard11( incumbent ) Dev Vashi-W ard11 INsauga’s Editorial Standards and Policies
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