Against another big PC win, NDP keeps hold of London's orange core

On a night when Doug Ford cruised to a third straight majority in Thursday's Ontario election, the NDP managed to hold off PC challengers and retain their orange core in London's three central ridings.

While the PCs are poised to return to Queen's Park with 80 of the legislature's 124 seats, incumbent NDP candidates pulled off wins in London's three central ridings, delivering second-place finishes for the PC challengers:

Liberal candidates running in London's three core ridings finished third, another poor showing from a party that once drew strong support from the Forest City. 

In the rural ridings outside of London, the PCs dominated. Former agriculture minister Rob Flack won in Elgin-Middlesex-London by 16,000 votes over Liberal Doug Mactavish.

WATCH | Rob Flack tells his supporters he's ready to work for Ontario:

In Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Steve Pinsonneault cruised to a win over Liberal challenger and Lucan Mayor Cathy Burghardt-Jesson in a rematch of a byelection held last spring.

Ridings north of London also delivered easy PC wins. Incumbent Lisa Thompson won in Huron-Bruce and first-time candidate Paul Vickers won in Grey-Bruce-Owen Sound. 

After thanking supporters gathered in a downtown pub to celebrate his win, Kernaghan chided Ford for setting off what Kernaghan described as an unnecessary election. Ford triggered the rare mid-winter vote more than a year before necessary, saying he wanted a stronger mandate to take on Trump's tariff threats. 

"This election was called in the middle of winter, and I think that's something everyone had a struggle with," said Kernaghan. "It was harder to get to people's doors, it was harder to get the message out." 

In the final week of the campaign, polls suggested the seat, which Kernaghan has held since 2018, could fall to Pribil. 

Instead, Kernaghan was able to win by a wider margin this time: more than 6,800 votes compared to just over 4,000 votes in 2022.

WATCH | Terence Kernaghan's election victory speech:

Sattler said she'll focus on affordability issues when the legislature resumes sitting.

"One of the top priorities is the rising cost of living," she said. "Lots and lots of people are struggling. I heard more about that in this election than I've heard in any of the four elections previously."