'It feels fantastic,' Scott Gillingham says after winning another term as Winnipeg mayor
Voters are awaiting results as polls are closing in municipal elections across Manitoba.
No shortage of races, but some areas have already elected leaders by acclamation
Ozten Shebahkeget · CBC News
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CBC Manitoba is ready with wall-to-wall coverage of the Manitoba municipal election. Our special election coverage starts at 8 p.m. and will continue into the evening.Voters are awaiting results as polls have started to close in municipal elections across Manitoba.
People who are in line to vote before polls officially close at 8 p.m. are still eligible to cast a ballot.
In Winnipeg, there are 12 candidates running for mayor, including incumbent Scott Gillingham.
The last sitting mayor to suffer an election-night defeat in the city was George Sharpe, who came up short in a narrow loss to Independent MLA Stephen Juba in 1956.
A recent public opinion survey suggested that although Gillingham had more support than any other candidate, his early and seemingly insurmountable lead was nearly halved about a week before election day.
A former city councillor, Gillingham won his first term as mayor in 2022. He squeaked by on election night with 27.5 per cent of the popular vote, repelling a comeback bid by former mayor Glen Murray to win by only 4,391 votes.
Gillingham, Winnipeg Sun CEO Kevin Klein and funeral director Mike Vogiatzakis, the front-runners in early polling, were the candidates eligible to participate in CBC Manitoba's Oct. 21 mayoral debate.
Scott Gillingham, centre, goes head-to-head with Kevin Klein, right, and Mike Vogiatzakis in a televised debate hosted by CBC Manitoba on Oct. 21. (James Turner/CBC)
There are 54 council candidates and more than 90 school trustee candidates in Winnipeg, the city said.
There will be at least five new people on Winnipeg's city council, after five veteran councillors did not seek re-election.
Eyes are also on the councillor's seat in Transcona, where incumbent Russ Wyatt sought re-election while facing criminal charges, including sexual assault, which police say involve two men in separate incidents from 2023 and 2025.
All Winnipeg races were contested this year; in 2022, two councillors won re-election by acclamation.
Voter turnout in the city has waxed and waned in Winnipeg's six elections since 2002. The 2022 election that saw Gillingham first elected mayor recorded a 37.5 per cent voter turnout — the lowest since 2006.
Voter turnout was much higher in 2014, when Brian Bowman was first elected mayor, with 50 per cent of electors casting ballots.
This year, a record number of Winnipeggers took advantage of advance voting to cast their ballot, the city said.
Elections outside of Winnipeg
Manitobans outside of Winnipeg also voted for new leaders and councils.
Incumbent mayors in several Manitoba communities, including Portage la Prairie, Steinbach, Winkler, Niverville and Selkirk, were acclaimed after no challengers registered to run.
Several places, such as the Municipality of Cartwright-Roblin and the Rural Municipality of Argyle, saw their entire slate of council candidates acclaimed.
Two veteran politicians who served with each other on Brandon city council are battling to become mayor of Manitoba's second-largest city.
Incumbent Jeff Fawcett was elected Brandon mayor four years ago, after serving on council for three terms. His opponent, Len Isleifson, is also a former city councillor and was MLA for Brandon East from 2016 to 2023.
Advance voting in the Wheat City also set a new record in 2026, with more than triple the number of advance votes cast in 2022, far exceeding any advance poll held in the city in the last 20 years, officials said previously.
Up north, residents in Flin Flon voted for a new mayor after Mayor George Fontaine did not run again. Three names were on the mayoral ballot in Flin Flon.
In The Pas, three candidates are also battling for an open mayor's seat. The northern town has been without a mayor since August, after Andre Murphy stepped down from the job.
Incumbent Colleen Smook faced two challengers in Thompson's mayoral race.
Three Manitoba communities — Winnipeg Beach, Victoria Beach and Dunnottar — held elections earlier this year. Only one mayor — Penny McMorris, the incumbent in Victoria Beach — was acclaimed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ozten Shebahkeget is a member of Northwest Angle 33 First Nation, born and raised in Winnipeg. She started writing for CBC Manitoba during the first Pathways program in 2022. She holds a master's degree in writing from the University of Saskatchewan.
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