Olivia Chow has been re-elected as mayor of Toronto, securing a second term with a commanding margin and helping lift a slate of progressive candidates to seats on city council. She has promised more rental housing, free school lunches and reduced transit fares for frequent riders.
The race drew record turnout. Chow took 54% of the vote to 41% for her rival, Brad Bradford, a 13 percentage point gap. Weeks of polling had pointed to a dead heat between the two candidates, who offered sharply different visions for Canada's largest city. Her total of more than 532,000 votes is nearly double what she received in 2023.
Chow wagered that voters would back her policies to address an affordability crisis that has gripped major cities around the world. Her victory suggests that progressive urban politics can withstand the cost-of-living backlash that has unseated governments elsewhere.
Speaking to a jubilant crowd on Monday night, Chow thanked her supporters and Bradford. "I know we share a love for Toronto and a belief in its future," she said. "We can disagree on how we get there, or what it looks like, but I do not doubt we both want what is best for our city."
Chow, 69, has long been a fixture of local politics, having served as a school board trustee, city councillor and federal member of parliament. Bradford, 40, is a former city councillor and urban planner. He built much of his campaign around what he described as Chow's failure to curb the cost of living and address crime, and told residents that crime was so bad he slept with a baseball bat beside his bed.
Auto theft and high-value property crime have increased in Toronto. However, most other categories, including homicides, firearms-related violence and assault, have dropped significantly in recent years. Bradford called for more police and pledged to cut taxes and city spending.
The campaign also touched on antisemitism, in a city that has seen antisemitic vandalism and shootings at Jewish schools. Bradford sought to align himself with the Jewish community and argued that Chow's decision to skip a debate on the subject showed she could not be an effective voice against hate. Chow expanded the police department's hate crimes unit and pushed a "bubble zone" bylaw barring protest within 50 meters of places of worship, schools, childcare centers and other vulnerable institutions.
In his concession speech, Bradford struck a conciliatory tone. "I want her to succeed. And my supporters and the nearly 400,000 people that cast a vote for us tonight, they want her to succeed too," he said. He also acknowledged the long odds he faced: no incumbent mayor seeking re-election in Toronto has ever lost.
Chow also appeared to benefit from managing a tense relationship with the Ontario government and Premier Doug Ford. Ford said in 2023 that she would be an "unmitigated disaster" for the city. He did not endorse her this time, but told reporters the two had a "phenomenal relationship" and urged people to "read between the lines" about his preferred candidate. The two are still likely to clash over the city's bike lanes.
Affordability is expected to remain a central challenge for the incoming council, which includes many progressive candidates who either returned or won for the first time. Among them is Diana McNally Chan, a well-known advocate for unhoused people, who will be the first renter to sit on city council.
