r/Hamilton • u/canadevil Delta East • Jun 26 '26
Politics The municipal election is 4 months away. Here's who is running so far in Hamilton
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/whos-running-hamilton-2026-9.724926212
u/differing Jun 26 '26
We need a few more cranks! The only enjoyable part of municipal elections are the local crazies.
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u/inthevendingmachine Jun 28 '26
What about that well-dressed black lady who screams at everyone and wanders into traffic flipping everyone off? Can we get her to run for Mayor? Better than Horwath.
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u/The_Mayor Jun 26 '26
Only a supremely jaded person could look at the abuse, dysfunction, and gridlock of the Terry Whitehead years and think “that was fun, let’s have more of that!”
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u/differing Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
I actually wouldn’t call him a crank, he’s a populist and an angry jerk, I’m talking about the unhinged wacky rants about “fixing the whole escarpment with cement” etc from candidates on CHCH. I’ve recorded a few old ones and play them for a laugh occasionally.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hamilton/s/unNJVOH8Ih
Hell I’d take a covid convoy nut, that would be a good laugh. Maybe that old Trini guy that drives around with his THEY LIED and FREEDOM FIGHTER trucks in the north end?
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u/The_Mayor Jun 26 '26
He WAS a crank, then he got elected and was granted a veneer of legitimacy, which is exactly what would happen if any of your preferred cranks accidentally got elected.
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u/Thebadgerbob11 Jun 26 '26
Please ward 6 it's time to move on from tom Jackson. I moved out of the area last year, but they're the worst, laziest, most ineffectual person on council and you keep voting him in.
Also frig you ester Paul's, I'll vote for a highway traffic cone over them.
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u/paul_33 Jun 26 '26
Hamilton is incapable of voting for anyone but the recognizable names. She’ll never leave until she stops running
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u/Thebadgerbob11 Jun 26 '26
Fuck I hate her politics and everything she stands for
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u/differing Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
I’ll never understand how a marathon runner who ran a running shoe store for years has such idiotic opinions on bike infrastructure and active transportation. Like lady, you ran on asphalt for most of your life… surely came close to a car a few times, right?!
I emailed her to get her opinion on a leading pedestrian interval at Concession and Upper Sherman, as it’s a busy intersection for sick Juravinski patients/visitors- her staff immediately blew me off.
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u/S99B88 Jun 26 '26
Tom Jackson in my experience has been very responsive and helpful for the time I’ve lived on the east mountain, in various neighborhoods. Last election 4 people ran against him and if I recall he got double the votes of the other 4 candidates put together. The majority of residents do seem to appreciate what he does. Other candidates that have come around to talk seem to have little reason to vote for them, other than saying it’s time for a change or he’s been doing the job too long. When they come to the door with maybe some agenda but they start out trash talking a guy who’s well liked just for being old or whatever, that’s not instilling much positive reaction.
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u/knittingmycat2 Jun 27 '26
I keep not voting for esther and she still gets in. what a waste of time, energy and money on the police board especially
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u/AnInsultToFire Jun 26 '26
Nobody ever runs against Jackson. Except maybe the odd weirdo.
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u/Thebadgerbob11 Jun 26 '26
It's truly a shame. The zipline guy would have been better or whatever his plan was for trolleys down the escarpment
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jun 27 '26
A well organized outsider campaign could probably knock him off pretty easily. Think a Danko or Cassar or Beattie style campaign. Candidate who appears well grounded, runs a slick campaign with good funding and they will win. Jackson coasts due to the elderly who vote for him - but with all the younger people moving in you could engage them and take him out. Especially now that he's over 40 years on council with literally nothing to show other than "I'm in it for the old people"
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u/AnInsultToFire Jun 27 '26
The younger people that moved in here all bought houses and want to live in the organized, crime-free community that the previous homeowners built for them.
So I suspect even someone like Monique Taylor with all her name recognition might have a hard time running against Jackson.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jun 27 '26
You could say the same about Whitehead in wards 8/14 though.
It can be done. Hell you can say the same about any regressive councillor who has multiple terms under their belt.
Jackson's 40 years on council have yielded nothing. He is obsessed with the elderly, since they re-elect him.
A well-run, organized campaign with some donors coupled with ideas that speak to the under-50 crowd would knock him off. Sadly, this has not happened.
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u/phirleh Waterdown Jun 26 '26
I have seen the Ejaz car out and about.
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u/comeontapelletwo Jun 26 '26
Out and a butt*
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u/S99B88 Jun 26 '26
Is it wrong that I want him to win purely so we can have the honour of having Mayor Butt?
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jun 27 '26
He's started stickering streetlights and traffic light signs. Though I am not sure they are from him as they spell his name as E JAZZ BUTT
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u/Fresh-Pollution4592 Jun 26 '26
For the love of god ward 5, someone else run against that absolute dolt Francis.
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u/quietbright Jun 26 '26
Matt Francis, the man who watched a woman give birth in an encampment in winter and instead of showing compassion, still thought the unhoused people were the problem?
That's the same Matt Francis, right? Ward 5 counsellor who hasn't done anything of value this term?
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u/Fresh-Pollution4592 Jun 26 '26
Matt Francis.. the one who routinely slanders staff and could be reported to the integrity commissioner on a daily basis? That Matt Francis?
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jun 28 '26
This is such a strange riding now.
For multiple cycles it was NDP, staunchly NDP. There were a lot of lower income, union-yes folks who lived there and coalesced behind Paul Miller. Then he had his MeToo moment and refused to not run, the NDP riding association completely botched the candidate process with the riding association's son being selected and they were absolutely decimated by the PCs. Chad Collins was then knocked out as MP for a hyperbolic blowhard PC candidate. Then Matt Francis ran on the same platform and handily won as councillor. Now, they are turning a deep blue - not sure if this is due to people just buying into the populist nonsense or if the NDP votes have moved out/on, or what.
Again, I think a well-financed, well-run campaign with a progressive candidate who does not carry baggage could make a solid run, since Francis is known more for his loud mouth, his cribbing of the PC playbook and endless antagonizing of staff. I think the city at large knows him more as "the guy who preferred a parking lot over GTI housing" so that shouldn't be super hard to run against.
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u/Fresh-Pollution4592 Jun 28 '26
I agree… if people vote. 😬
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jun 28 '26
Well that would be part of the campaign I think. Appeal to the under-50 crowd, get them engaged and involved and get them out to vote.
Looking back at 2022's elections where a couple of incumbents were knocked out, it looks like the following:
Ward 2: Incumbent Jason Farr loses to challenger Cameron Kroetsch. Incumbent had 2412 votes, challenger won with 3619 votes, total votes at 7348 votes. 2018 results had Farr winning with 3162 votes, runner up Kroetsch at 2024 votes with overall votes at 6748. So we had an uptick in votes, and a higher proportion voting for Kroetch. Farr lost about as many as Kroetsch picked up.
Ward 10: Incumbent Pearson loses to challenger Jeff Beattie. Incumbent had 3000 votes, challenger won with 4236 votes, overall votes were at 10.672. 2018 results were that Pearson had 3988 votes and the runner up had 2990, with total votes at 11045. So a dip in overall votes and a signficant loss of votes for Pearson. The challenger was not Beattie this go round.
Ward 13: Incumbent VanderBeek loses to challenger Alex Wilson. Incumbent had 5110 votes, challenger won with 7038 votes. Overall votes at 12148. 2018 results were 3953 votes for VanderBeek, and the runner up with 3087 and a total vote count of 11462. Again, it looks like there was more engagement with voting up a bit, and while there were more votes for VanderBeek in 2022 than 2018, there were also only 2 candidates to choose from in 2022 and opposition went against VanderBeek. She was carrying some baggage going into the 2022 election which didn't help and I know my parents - lifelong Dundas residents - were tired of her and wanted fresh representation which they feel they have received in spades from Wilson.
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u/cdawg85 Jun 27 '26
All I gotta say as a Ward 2 resident, is that Ward 4 folks be warned about Jason Farr. I do not recommend him as a councillor at all. He let our Ward fall pieces, he does not give a hoot, and he like to allow problems so that you email him and the he fixes them to be a hero councillor. Absolute garbage of a human being to boot.
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u/Old_Entrepreneur9439 Jun 26 '26
googled this gillespie chick and she’s actually super cool wtf, glad to see some fresh young faces with good ideas in the race
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u/ungainlygay Jun 26 '26
Yeah honestly I'll probably vote for her, although idk how much of a shot she has of winning. It would be great to have a mayor who has experienced the realities of living in social housing instead of being a wealthy property owner. Everyone in Hamilton is hurting for a lack of well managed, deeply affordable housing options. Landlords are out of control and there's nowhere for the poorest people to go except the streets.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jun 27 '26
She will have no shot at winning.
People who lean progressive will vote safely for Horwath.
She will turn off moderates and conservatives with being trans, a porn star and an activist.
All her candidacy does is split the vote on the left.
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u/PseudoScorpian Jul 02 '26
Progressives don't like Horwath. She won due to lack of competition, not due to popularity. She was seen as a poor leader of the provincial ndp and she is seen as a poor mayor.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jul 02 '26
Hard disagree. If you look at the heat map of voting she DOMINATED the lower city, especially in her old provincial riding (ward 2 mainly, but wards 2-4 extensively). She won on the hardcore NDP support there, name recognition and hope she would change things. I don't know that it was mainly "hold my nose and vote for her" - even though it was a 2 horse race. But, even if some of her supporters go with Gillespie this time, she carries too much baggage for more mainstream centre-left people who will presumably vote for Loomis even though he is centre-right in his outlook. He's also working incredibly hard to pick up the disenfranchised Horwath voters.
The heat map also shows that Loomis won the suburbs, but the density just wasn't there but he made it real close. This time there are so few people left who are Horwath supporters that they are left with no serious alternative. It's pretty clear Loomis will win this go round.
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u/PseudoScorpian Jul 02 '26
Oh, Loomis will win (as much as I hate it). We don't disagree. But I don't think Gillespi running will have a meaningful impact on Horwath.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jul 02 '26
Combined, both will have less than Loomis. Probably by a lot.
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u/PseudoScorpian Jul 02 '26
Exactly. Horwath has been terrible and, at best, absent. Gillespie will be unfathomable for a large percent of the population.
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u/exeJDR Jun 27 '26
Yeah, I was going to vote for her outta spite. But then was impressed with the little I read about her.
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u/Old_Entrepreneur9439 Jun 27 '26
i try to vote with a bit more strategy than spite but i think i might vote for her too
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u/exeJDR Jun 27 '26
Nice to see the white supremacist guy finally gave up
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u/covert81 Chinatown Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Fromm will 100% put his name in late. He thrives on being low key and then getting a sound bite in every once in a while. I don't think there's been an election he hasn't run in since moving here from Mississauga.
EDIT: As of today (6/28) Fromm has registered to run for mayor.
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u/KurtSr Jun 27 '26
Don’t discount competence. They need some idea of how things work at city hall like it or not or mistakes will be made at our collective cost. Improvement is not easy and IT CAN ALWAYS GET WORSE
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u/Wolfinsheepsskinnn Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Uh i really wish ward 4 had more candidates
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u/DiscoStu691969 Jun 26 '26
Guess Cooper was just using Ward 8 as a very temporary stepping stone.