Communities

Scott Gillingham re-elected mayor of Winnipeg

Gillingham defeated three main challengers and will lead a city council with nine new members.

By Hannah MacKenzie, Staff Writer
October 29, 2026

WINNIPEG · Scott Gillingham won a second consecutive term as mayor of Winnipeg on Wednesday, defeating three main challengers. Unofficial results showed Gillingham received 80,206 votes, or 39.8 percent of ballots cast. Former city councillor and provincial MLA Kevin Klein finished second with 41,703 votes, or 20.7 percent. Software developer Noah Redden came third with 39,962 votes, and funeral director Mike Vogiatzakis received 19,463 votes.

Gillingham told supporters at a watch party in St. James that the city's best days are still ahead. "Tonight you have given me the honour of serving as your mayor once again," he said. "Thank you, Winnipeg. I will never take your trust for granted." He said his door would be open to all residents and vowed to work on issues like homelessness, addictions, mental health and crime.

Klein conceded the race and congratulated Gillingham. "It's very hard to beat an incumbent," Klein told his own supporters. He said he was humbled by the support and would hold a news conference Friday to wrap up his campaign and announce his next steps. Klein also said he believed the campaign had become "the most dirty campaign I've seen in a Canadian election."

Gillingham's re-election comes with a significantly larger mandate than his first win in 2022, when he edged out former mayor Glen Murray by just 4,391 votes. This time, CBC News projected his victory about an hour after polls closed. The mayor said he knew he had a lot to prove after that narrow initial win. "Four years have passed. You've seen me do this job," he told his supporters.

His first priority, he said, is implementing a new plan to deploy community service workers instead of police or fire-paramedics to thousands of non-emergency 911 calls. "That's getting people the compassionate response they need," Gillingham said. He also pledged an ongoing effort to reduce homelessness and add more detox and mental health beds. "We have to stop taking people to emergency rooms," he said. The mayor also plans to restore some bus stops near seniors' homes that were removed during a transit overhaul. "We might not get all of them back in front of every place, but we have to move to get some of them back in front of seniors' homes," he said. On public safety, Gillingham ran on promises to hire more police officers, continue with a community crisis response service and work with Ottawa on bail legislation for repeat offenders.

He will lead a city council that will see significant turnover, with nine new faces elected. That is the most new councillors since Winnipeg's council was reduced to 15 positions before the 1992 election. Four incumbents lost their seats. Russ Wyatt in Transcona, Devi Sharma in Old Kildonan, Ross Eadie in Mynarski and Shawn Dobson in St. James were defeated by Lora Meseman, Greg McFarlane, Natalie Smith and Kelly Ryback, respectively.

Gillingham said he was pleased with Wyatt's defeat but would still press the province to ensure councillors facing criminal charges go on leave. Wyatt had been running for re-election while facing two separate sexual assault charges, which he has denied. The mayor said he aims to meet with every elected councillor over the next two days to find common ground. "The people of Winnipeg have spoken tonight … and my role as mayor is to work with every one of those people," he told CBC News. He acknowledged that with so many new members, filling the executive policy committee might be challenging but said new people bring new ideas. "I'm very optimistic about the future of our council," Gillingham said. The other six incumbent councillors who retained their seats are Evan Duncan, Cindy Gilroy, Vivian Santos, Matt Allard, Emma Durand-Wood and Jeff Browaty.

With files from The Globe and Mail, CBC News and CityNews