Toronto re-elects Olivia Chow: incumbent takes 54.15% and a first full term as mayor

Toronto has its answer: incumbent mayor Olivia Chow has been re-elected. With 98.11% of polls reporting as of 10:02 p.m. on October 26, Chow had 522,139 votes, or 54.15%, against city councillor Brad Bradford at 396,558 votes, or 41.13%. The figures come from City of Toronto unofficial results carried by election trackers. Results remain unofficial until the City certifies them.

A wider margin than the final polls suggested

The result was more comfortable than the final polls had suggested. A Mainstreet Research poll conducted October 16 to 18 had put Bradford at 48.9% and Chow at 47.5% among decided voters, well within the margin of error. In the end Chow won by about 13 points. She took her strongest shares in Toronto-Danforth, at 74.5%, and Toronto Centre, at 72.4%.

A first full term after the 2023 byelection

Chow first became mayor in a 2023 byelection after the resignation of John Tory, so this win gives her a first full four-year term. The election also chose city councillors and school board trustees. About 2.14 million people were eligible to vote, with 361 candidates certified across the three races and more than 1,350 voting locations open on election day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

What the campaign was fought over

The campaign centred on affordability, housing, property taxes and transportation. Chow campaigned on keeping future property-tax increases near inflation, cutting transit fares for frequent riders, providing free school lunches and expanding affordable housing. Bradford promised a first-year property-tax freeze, a line-by-line external spending review, scrapping the land-transfer tax on homes under 1.1 million dollars and hiring 1,000 police officers. The next council term will show which of those promises survive contact with the city budget.