Scott Gillingham has been elected because the mayor of Winnipeg.
Gillingham, first elected as councillor for the St. James ward in 2014 and re-elected in 2018, was town’s finance chair for greater than five years, amongst other committee roles.
Prior to politics, he served as a pastor for greater than twenty years.
Although official election results have yet to be confirmed by town, Gillingham was neck-and-neck with candidate Glen Murray throughout most of Wednesday night, something Gillingham addressed when talking to his supporters.
“Tonight, the votes were very split,” he said.
“This was an especially close race, but my campaign motto has been, from the beginning, uniting to construct a stronger Winnipeg.
“It would be my goal to make every effort through the approaching months and years of this term to unite Winnipeg together, so we are able to construct a stronger, brighter city.”
Unofficial numbers from the polls as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday show Gillingham pulled in 53,663 votes over Murray’s 49,272.
Murray, a former mayor of Winnipeg seen because the frontrunner in early polls, was the topic of controversy late within the campaign when allegations of sexual harassment — which the candidate emphatically denied — at a previous position in Calgary arose.
Murray, whose sixty fifth birthday Wednesday didn’t coincide with a victory on the polls, told his supporters he would proceed to work to enhance town of Winnipeg.
“We now have good enough people and good enough power on this room to vary the longer term course of town,” he said. “And while we will not be doing it in just in the best way that we had planned, that mission is not any less vital.”
With incumbent mayor Brian Bowman stepping down from town’s top job after two terms, a complete of 11 candidates hashed it out for a likelihood to guide town on this fall’s campaign.
Former Charleswood Coun. Kevin Klein got here in third behind Murray with 28,567 votes, just barely ahead of Shaun Loney who brought in 28,567 votes, in line with the unofficial numbers from polling stations.
Here’s a have a look at the candidates who were unsuccessful of their bid for mayor:
Idris Adelakun
An expert biosystems engineer and project manager, Adelakun brings educational experience to the table from Canada, the US, and Nigeria.
Unofficial polling numbers as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday showed Adelakun finished tenth within the race with 1,263 votes.
Rana Bokhari
Bokhari is probably going best known to Winnipeggers as the previous leader of the Liberal Party of Manitoba. A practicing lawyer, Bokhari focuses on helping Indigenous people and people from marginalized communities navigate the legal process.
Unofficial polling numbers as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday showed Bokhari finished seventh within the race with 5,900 votes.
Chris Clacio
Clacio, a first-generation Canadian, has spent the past 16 years as a volunteer for varied community initiatives. He has previously run for mayor and for varsity trustee within the Seven Oaks School Division.
Unofficial polling numbers as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday showed Clacio finished eleventh within the race with 451 votes.
Kevin Klein
Business executive Klein has served as councillor for the Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood ward since 2018. Amongst his past roles are publisher of the Winnipeg Sun and divisional president at MTS.
Shaun Loney
Previously employed by the province directing Manitoba’s energy policies, Loney has spent the past twenty years working to create socially and community-conscious organizations geared toward job creation, fighting poverty and homelessness, and using geothermal energy.
Jenny Motkaluk
Runner-up to Bowman within the 2018 mayoral race, Motkaluk is an entrepreneur and self-described ambassador for Winnipeg. Her current project is a business development platform, Cumula, through which she trains corporations to enhance their revenue-generating capability.
Unofficial polling numbers as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday showed Motkaluk finished sixth within the race with 7,443 votes.
Glen Murray
Murray has loads of past experience at City Hall: he was mayor of Winnipeg from 1998 to 2004, and the primary openly gay mayor of a significant city in North America. He later spent seven years as a member of Ontario’s provinicial legislature, and ran for the federal Green Party leadership in 2020.
Robert-Falcon Ouellette
Formerly the Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre, Ouellette finished third within the 2014 mayoral election. Prior to his profession in politics, he was a veteran of greater than 25 years within the Canadian Armed Forces, in addition to an instructional administrator.
Unofficial polling numbers as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday showed Ouellette finished fifth within the race with 15,029 votes.
Rick Shone
Businessman Shone, who has an academic background in psychology, is the owner of an outdoors shop that has expanded to a few locations, in addition to the founding father of Swamp Donkey Adventure Racing, which has held greater than 50 events since its inception.
Unofficial polling numbers as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday showed Shone finished eighth within the race with 2,570 votes.
Don Woodstock
A Winnipeg Transit operator and security business owner, Woodstock is a well-known face to Winnipeg voters, having participated in quite a few municipal and provincial elections up to now. He has long been involved in community organizing and events, and has lobbied City Hall on multiple issues through the years.
Unofficial polling numbers as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday showed Woodstock finished ninth within the race with 1,889 votes.
With files from The Canadian Press
