Andrea Horwath has officially declared her candidacy for the upcoming Hamilton mayoral race scheduled for October 26. Although Horwath had previously announced her intention to seek re-election, she had not completed the necessary paperwork to be listed as an official candidate. Her name is not yet included on the city’s official list of candidates, but her campaign confirmed her registration in a news release on Friday morning.
In her statement, Horwath highlighted the significant challenges Hamilton has faced over the past four years, including a housing crisis, increasing cost of living, neighborhood pressures, and long-standing infrastructure underinvestment. While acknowledging that not all problems have been resolved, she emphasized the progress made in tackling these issues.
Horwath, who previously led the Ontario New Democratic Party, narrowly won the mayoral race in 2022, defeating Keanin Loomis by approximately 1,600 votes. This year, she will once again compete against Loomis and other challengers. Since the city’s amalgamation in 2000, Fred Eisenberger remains the only mayor to be re-elected for consecutive terms in 2014 and 2018.
Several candidates have entered the mayoral race in Hamilton, including Sasha Austin, Ejaz Butt, Rob Cooper, Paul Fromm, Scarlett Gillespie, Keanin Loomis, Pamela Mitchell, and Nathalie Xian Yi Yan. Each candidate brings a unique background and platform to the election, with a diverse range of priorities and goals for the city’s future. Nomination forms for candidates are due by August 21, with the mayoral campaign set to unfold in the coming months.