Toronto’s late start didn't stop an Olivia Chow win.
With 1406 of 1,431 polls Chow comfortably sealed her victory with 54 per cent of the vote.
Chow was prejected to win at 10 p.m. by television news and the crowd in the Great Hall errupted with people waving purple Olivia Chow signs and cheers that shook the walls.
Brad Bradford lead early but Chow swiftly swept the city after polls came flooding in.
Bradford sits at almost 400,000 votes equating to 43 per cent of the vote.
The doors to Mayor Olivia Chow's party at The Great Hall opened to supporters just after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Monday.
A recent Mainstreet Research survey reported Chow leading among decided voters over Brad Bradford, 38 per cent to 32 per cent.
Angel De Grato, 25, has been volunteering on incumbent Chow’s election campaign for the past two months.
At the Great Hall venue, De Grato said that canvassing and talking to people about Chow was important and humbling.
“We don’t want to move backwards,” she said.
De Grato said that as a Filipino, she understands the concerns of the community when it comes to healthcare. She said that when she was assigned to canvass in a Somalian community, it was “just so humbling.”
“You understand that a lot of people care a lot about stuff,” she said, “it’s really important to elect a person that’s going to move forward.”
It was important for De Grato, a daycare teacher, to be a voice for her community of educators, “especially as underrepresented as we are in the city.”
De Grato said she sees how hard Chow works and how much she “hustles for the city.” She also said she hopes Chow reaches more communities.
MORE TO COME.
