Olivia Chow has been re-elected as mayor of Toronto, the CP24-CTV Election Desk has declared.
CP24 and CTV News were the first to declare her victory at 9:59 p.m.
With 99.2 per cent of polls reporting, Chow appears to have secured 54.2 per cent of the vote compared to 41.1 per cent for Brad Bradford.
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Her margin of victory is currently approximately 127,627 votes.
“The people of Toronto have spoken,” Chow said at her team’s headquarters Monday night.
“I want to say something to every person in Toronto tonight: whether you voted for me or voted for someone else, whether you thought your voice mattered or wondered if anyone was listening, and especially to the many people who call Toronto home, who work here, raise families here, contribute to our city every day, but could not, or did not vote. I am your mayor too.”
Campaign focused on affordability
Chow ran a campaign largely centred on affordability, with promises to freeze TTC fares and make transit free after 10 paid rides a week among her hallmark commitments.
She also pledged to expand an existing school nutrition program to include lunch and frequently touted the estimated $880 she said families would save at the grocery store as a result.
On the campaign trail, Chow regularly spoke in front of a podium with the words “More Affordable” spelled out in block letters and frequently pitched herself as an ally to renters, promising a dedicated task force to go after bad landlords if re-elected.
On taxes, Chow said that she would keep any increases to around the rate of inflation and warned that Bradford’s proposal to freeze property taxes outright in 2027 would cost Torontonians more in the long run.
Bradford, for his part, went after Chow for raising property taxes a combined 18.6 per cent over the course of her three years as mayor.
During the CP24 debate last week, Bradford said that Chow promised voters “a modest tax increase” during the 2023 mayoral byelection and ended up “delivering the biggest bait and switch in Toronto municipal history.”
Speaking at his team’s headquarters Monday night, Bradford said he spoke with Chow over the phone and congratulated her.
“The people of Toronto have spoken, and they have decided that that she will be returning to the mayor’s office. She is the mayor of this city. Nobody can doubt that. It’s undisputable, and she has my good wishes,” he said.
Race tightened
Exclusive Nanos Research polling conducted for CP24 and CTV News Toronto earlier in October showed that Chow had a nearly double-digit lead over Bradford among decided voters but the gap soon tightened and her lead was down to three points in a survey released on Oct. 20, pointing to a statistical tie.
As the campaign continued, Chow ratcheted up her criticism of Bradford, warning that he would cut services and send the city “backwards.”
In the final week of the campaign, Chow criticized Bradford for a proposal to make Toronto Water a publicly owned utility, warning that it would open the door to privatization.
Bradford dismissed those attacks. He pointed out that provincial legislation requires that Toronto Water remain in taxpayer hands and said that he would resign if it were ever privatized on his watch.
Chow gets first full term as mayor
Chow’s victory on Monday night means that she now will have an opportunity to serve a full term as Toronto’s mayor, something she didn’t have when she was first elected in a byelection in 2023.
She also avoids the distinction of becoming Toronto’s first post-amalgamation mayor to lose at the ballot box in their first re-election attempt.
Asked for her first item of business if re-elected during an appearance on CP24 last week, Chow expressed a desire to set the right tone with the 25 other members of city council.
“First thing I would do is to immediately bring the council together and talk to the councillors and work together and map out what we plan to do,” she said.
