#munipoli Matters - ISSUE 58 - Breaking down by-elections
A few updates on some by-elections in Ontario, plus news down south
Welcome to another edition of #munipoli Matters, breaking down the latest in municipal politics across Canada.
While most people have the holiday season in mind as 2023 draws to a close, there are actually a few by-elections (municipally and provincially) that occurred or will occur.
Let’s take a look at what happened and what is happening on the horizon.
Cambridge gets a new councillor
Ward 1 Councillor Donna Reid passed away in August after a brief illness. Reid, 85, was first elected in 2010 representing the industrial commercial areas north of the 401 and neighbourhoods such as Preston Heights and secured a fourth term last year.
A municipal by-election was called for November 13 with four candidates on the ballot: former Cambridge and regional councillor Karl Kiefer, Michelle Goodridge, retired civil servant Richard Kaufman and 2022 candidate Helen Shwery.
Shwery, who lost to Reid by 46 votes in 2022, won the by-election decisively, garnering 944 votes to Kiefer’s 623. Goodridge followed in third place with 256 votes and Kaufman got 97 votes.
“On behalf of Cambridge City Council, I want to welcome Helen Shwery to Cambridge City Council”, Mayor Jan Liggett said in a statement. “I am confident that Councillor Shwery will bring a unique point of view to decisions made at Council and be a passionate advocate for residents of Ward 1. It will be good to have a full complement of council once again and we look forward to having Helen as part of our team."
On her website, Shwery used the slogan “your voice will by my voice”, championing financial accountability to taxpayers, public safety and ‘cutting red tape so developers can build homes faster.’
November 30th ‘mini election’
Well, not really…but there are two by-elections taking place from two different levels of government.
Just up the street from Cambridge in the provincial riding of Kitchener-Centre, voters will go to the polls to elect a new MPP after the NDP’s Laura Mae-Lindo resigned in July to take up a position at the University of Waterloo. Mae-Lindo first won during the NDP’s breakthrough into Official Opposition status in 2018 and was reelected in 2022.
What is interesting from the standpoint of #munipoli Matters is that three candidates from four of the main parties in Ontario are running candidates with municipal political experience, two are City Councillors from Kitchener:
Ward 9 Councillor Debbie Chapman is running for the NDP
Ward 10 Councillor Aislinn Clancy is running for the Green Party
Former Waterloo mayoral candidate Kelly Steiss is the Ontario Liberal Party’s candidate
The PCs are running Rob Elliott, a former government staffer and PC party regional vice president.
A total of 18 candidates registered to run in the Kitchener-Centre by-election, including 5 independents and representatives from the New Blue Party, Populist Ontario, Electoral Reform Party, Public Benefits Party and the Ontario People’s Front.
Voters go to the polls on Thursday, November 30th.
Meanwhile voters in Toronto’s Ward 20, Scarborough Southwest, will elect a new city councillor. Former councillor Gary Crawford, a former budget chief under former mayor John Tory, stepped down before a July provincial by-election in the riding of Scarborough Guildwood in which he ran for the PCs.
Crawford was unsuccessful in wrestling the riding from the Liberals and did not register to run for his old job. Some 23 candidates are running in this municipal by-election, just months all of Toronto voted in mayoral by-election after Tory stepped down. Amongst the candidates running are:
Malika Ghous, the ward’s current public school trustee. Ghous picked up some endorsements from federal Liberals and Conservatives.
Former trustee Parthi Kandavel, who served from 2014-2022 and ran for council in this ward last year.
Local activist Kevin Rupasinghe, who also ran in 2022 and whom I interviewed at that time. Rupasinghe picked up endorsements this time from incumbent Councillor Shelley Carroll and NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, a former Toronto councillor.
Reginald Tull, who ran in the June mayoral by-election.
Syed Jaffery, also ran in the mayoral by-election but also was a candidate for municipal office in neighbouring Mississauga last year.
Sudip Shome, who picked up the endorsement of both Crawford and retired police superintendent Gary Ellis.
Entrepreneur Jessica Hines, who previously served on the Toronto Youth Cabinet.
Voters also go to the polls on Thursday, November 30th.
In other news
New Jersey: Senator Bob Menendez’s second federal indictment on corruption charges stemming from allegations he was providing sensitive information to the Government of Egypt may have unintended consequences...for his son, Congressman Rob Menendez Jr.
The Congressman for New Jersey’s 8th District may be facing a primary challenge next year from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Bhalla, the first Sikh mayor in New Jersey history, could pose a real challenge to Menendez, although he should still be favored in the heavily Hispanic populated district.
Interestingly enough, Menendez’s name has also been bandied about as a potential candidate for Mayor in Jersey City, with incumbent Steven Fulop eyeing the Governor’s race in 2025. Former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey is the most high profile candidate to throw his hat in the ring so far.
McGreevey does have municipal experience as a former township mayor but he is more infamous for his two years as governor before resigning in 2004 over revelations he had engaged in an extramarital homosexuality relationship at the time.
New York City: Meanwhile across the Hudson River, voters may already be having some buyers’ remorse over their current Mayor, Eric Adams. Adams is under an FBI investigation into whether foreign money from Türkiye had funneled into his 2021 mayoral campaign. If that wasn’t bad enough, Adams has now been accused of having committed sexual assault in 1993 when both he and the plaintiff worked for the City of New York.
How bad is it for Adams? Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who lost his own job over allegations of sexual harassment and that his administration covered up COVID-19 deaths tied to nursing homes, is musing about running for mayor himself if Adams succumbs under the weight of the FBI investigation.
Charleston, South Carolina: Former GOP state senator William S. Cogswell Jr defeated incumbent Mayor John Tecklenburg, a Democrat, by 51% to 49% in the November 21 runoff election.
Tecklenburg took over from longtime mayor Joseph Riley in 2015 and was reelected in 2019. This time, he came in second place in the November 7 general election, with 32% to Cogswell’s 36%. The runoff was precipitated as neither men came away with a majority of the votes.
With his runoff victory, Cogswell becomes the first Republican affiliated mayor of Charleston since the Reconstruction era in the 1870s.