Ottawa's Rideau-Rockcliffe returns Rawlson King with 81.5% of the vote for a third term

Voters in Ottawa's Ward 13, Rideau-Rockcliffe, have returned Rawlson King to city hall with an overwhelming mandate, sending him into a third term on council.

King greets supporters at a celebration at The Bridge Public House on October 26. (Source: Manor Park Chronicle, photo by Ryland Coyne)

Re-elected with 81.5% of the vote

The Manor Park Chronicle reported on November 3 that King won 8,181 votes, or 81.5% of ballots cast, in the October 26 municipal election. His only opponent, Peter Karwacki, himself a veteran of three municipal campaigns, received 1,853 votes (18.5%).

At his victory celebration at The Bridge Public House, King thanked his volunteers, campaign workers, staff and wife Dr. Linda Grussani, and the ward residents who trusted him again. He said: “Rideau-Rockcliffe is an extraordinary place … we are a community of enormous diversity and enormous heart.”

Record and priorities for the new term

In his pre-election profile, King pointed to his seven-year record: facilitating close to $400 million in infrastructure work and another $120 million in funding for affordable housing. He said he championed Ottawa's first anti-racism office and strategy, advanced poverty reduction and food security policies, and successfully advocated to extend the ANCHOR (Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response) program to the ward.

For the coming term, his priorities include “transit that actually works,” attracting more funds for affordable and non-profit housing, and “stronger protections for tenants.” He also pledged honest budgeting, saying there should be no more deferring infrastructure costs onto the next generation.

The mayoral race in context

In the mayoral race, incumbent Mark Sutcliffe won a second mandate with 139,354 votes (44.65%), ahead of former councillor Jeff Leiper with 105,819 votes (33.9%). Overall turnout was just 36.2%, down from 43.8% in 2022 and the lowest in Ottawa since 2003.