There was a lot of focus on Windsor’s mayoral race in 2018, but the turnover on council may be the bigger story in the days and years to come.
Three incumbent councillors – John Elliott, Hilary Payne and Paul Borrelli – all lost their seats to challengers on Election Day.
Ward 2 was pegged as one to watch, and rookie candidate Fabio Costante didn’t disappoint. Costante knocked off one-term councilor John Elliott by nearly 500 votes to take the west-end ward.
Over in Ward 9, Hilary Payne’s tenure on council ends after two terms, after Kieran McKenzie won in a landslide. The rookie councillor and long-time NDP staffer captured 3,178 votes to Payne’s 985.
South Windsor’s Ward 10 elected Jim Morrison by a margin of 250 votes over incumbent Paul Borrelli. Morrison was the runner-up to Borrelli in the 2014 election.
Ward 8 was the only open seat in this election, after outgoing councillor Bill Marra announced he would not be seeking re-election. The vote was split eight ways, with Gary Kaschak sealing the council seat by 100 votes over David Sundin.
Fred Francis, Rino Bortolin, Chris Holt, Ed Sleiman, Jo-Anne Gignac and Irek Kusmierczyk all retained their seats on council.
Drew Dilkens was re-elected as mayor of Windsor, defeating former Chamber president Matt Marchand by more than 12,000 votes in Monday's municipal election.
Elliott, Borrelli and Payne were among the so-called “Drew Six” referring to candidates who normally voted with the mayor.
But University of Windsor political science professor Cheryl Collier doesn’t know if the new council members will change the dynamic.
“We make a lot of the 6-4 split, I don't know if it was across all issues,” says Collier. “I don't think it was as entrenched as maybe some people saw, certainly it manifested itself, and I don't know if we're going to see a similar 6-4 split.”
Voter turnout in the election was 34.73 per cent, down from 37 per cent in 2014.
Here's the full list of unofficial results for the wards.
