YourVote 24 Regina: Bachynski wins mayor’s race

REGINA - The mayor's race in Regina has produced a big upset.

With all 43 polls now reporting, Chad Bachynski has won the mayor's race defeating Lori Bresciani in second place with incumbent Sandra Masters back in third place. His margin of victory is over 3,000 votes.

The result means Bachynski, a project manager who has no elected experience in politics, has taken down both the incumbent mayor and a two-term Ward 4 councillor in a stunning turn of events at City Hall. Bachynski came into the race with little name recognition especially compared to Masters and Bresciani, but in the end a grassroots campaign effort, and good word of mouth on social media, helped carry the day for him. 

In terms of popular vote, Bachynski won with 31.5 per cent of the vote compared to 24.89 per cent for Bresciani and 23.12 per cent for Masters.

Bill Pratt, who during the Access TV debate had called for an end to the "Sandra and Lori Show" at City Hall, was fourth with 12 per cent of the vote. It was a long drop from there to fifth-place Bevann Fox with 2.34 per cent.

Bachynski had watched the results come in with his supporters before he made his way to City Hall where he spoke to reporters. He had this to say in prepared remarks:

"Our campaign has been built around a vision of Regina where safety and affordability are the foundation for our growth and success. We set out to make Regina a place where everyone feels safe in their homes, on their streets and in their neighbourhoods. We committed to investing in core infrastructure so that our roads, water systems and public services are reliable and modern. And we pledged to look out for our most vulnerable because a city is only as strong as the compassion that it shows for those in need.

"Tonight we begin the next phase of our journey together. Our work starts with listening and ensuring that every voice in Regina has a place in shaping our future. My commitment is to be accessible, transparent and accountable so that every resident knows their concerns are heard and acted upon. There will be challenges ahead, but together I am confident we will overcome them. Together we will build a safer, more affordable and vibrant Regina, a city that every one of us is proud to call home."

Change is also the story in the council races in all ten wards where six of those wards were guaranteed to produce new councillors to fill open seats. But it now appears a couple of wards have booted their sitting incumbents out. Ward 2 incumbent Bob Hawkins and Ward 7 incumbent Terina Nelson appear to both have gone down to defeat. The final count has Hawkins edged out by George Tsiklis by 37 votes, while Nelson has gone down to Shobna Radons by 178 votes.

Meanwhile a comeback bid by former longtime councillor Jerry Flegel appears to have fizzled out in Ward 10, with Clark Bezo winning a close race there. The overall result means that out of the 11 members of the previous council, five have departed of their own volition and four have been defeated, including two running for mayor, leaving just two incumbents left. 

Of those, incumbent Shanon Zachidniak is the winner by a comfortable margin in Ward 8, and Jason Mancinelli appears to have pulled away in Ward 9 in a tight race. Mancinelli was at City Hall where he congratulated Bachynski, but he was still reluctant to claim victory for himself pointing to the number of mail in ballots that had yet to be tallied.

While it was a bad night for incumbents in the mayor and council races, it was a good night for incumbents in contested races in all seven Regina Public School Board subdivisions and for at-large positions on the Regina Catholic Schools Board.

The six incumbents seeking re-election had no trouble winning their Regina Public races against a highly publicized slate of RCAAN-endorsed candidates, and incumbents prevailed on the Catholic side as well.

The unofficial results are below.

Mayoral Results

Councillor Ward 1

Councillor Ward 2

Councillor Ward 3

Councillor Ward 4

Councillor Ward 5

Councillor Ward 6

Councillor Ward 7

Councillor Ward 8

Councillor Ward 9

Councillor Ward 10

Separate School Board Leaderboard

Public School Board Leaderboard