Renee Merrifield of the BC Liberals is projected to win in Kelowna-Mission.
The riding is considered one of the safest BC Liberal seats in the province.
The district has changed in size and name as the Okanagan has grown, but has consistently voted for the Social Credit and Liberal parties for decades, never once electing an NDP MLA.
In 2017, BC Liberal incumbent Steve Thomson came close to tripling the vote share of his NDP competitor, winning close to 58 per cent of the vote.
Thomson served as the forest minister in Christy Clark’s government.
In December, Thomson announced his retirement from politics. He was first elected in 2009 and was also re-elected in 2013.
The NDP nominated senior ministerial assistant Krystal Smith.
Candidates
- BC Liberals: Renee Merrifield
- BC NDP: Krystal Smith
- BC Greens: Amanda Poon
Swing riding meter
The BC Liberals have won this riding in every election since 1996.
In 2017, the Liberals won by a hefty margin of 35.94 per cent. There were only seven out of 87 races province-wide where the winner had a larger margin of victory. There were just three ridings where the Liberals won by a larger margin.
2017 election results
- BC Liberal: Steve Thomson — 13,985 votes (57.64 per cent)
- BC NDP: Harwinder Kaur Sandhu — 5,102 votes (21.03 per cent)
- BC Greens: Rainer Wilkins — 3,422 votes (14.10 per cent)
- BC Conservatives: Charles Hardy — 1,755 votes (7.23 per cent)
This profile will continually be updated to reflect latest information, interviews and events in the campaign.
Find full B.C. 2020 provincial election coverage here.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots were requested across B.C. this election. As mail-in ballots cannot be counted until after election night, these results are not final.
Comments