Majority of Hamilton council planning to run for reelection this year
CBC
The majority of Hamilton’s city councillors, and the city’s mayor, say they’re planning to run for their positions again in the municipal election happening later this year.
When asked by CBC Hamilton this month if they plan to run for their positions in the election set for Oct. 26, 11 current councillors and Mayor Andrea Horwath said yes.
None gave a hard no, but two didn’t respond before publication: Ward 13 (Dundas) Coun. Alex Wilson, elected for the first time four years ago, and Ward 6 Coun. Tom Jackson, the longest-sitting member of the council horseshoe, in office since 1988.
Ward 15 (Flamborough) Coun. Ted McMeekin, who was elected to the post in 2022, is taking his time to make a decision on whether to run again, he told CBC Hamilton on Thursday.
McMeekin – who’s had a long political career, including time as a Member of Provincial Parliament, mayor of Flamborough and as a Hamilton councillor in a ward on the Mountain in the late 1970s – said he’ll probably wait until close to the Aug. 21 deadline to decide.
“I don’t feel a sense of urgency around making a decision,” said McMeekin, who plans to consult with his wife and children. “I’m getting a lot of encouragement from the people I am privileged to represent. That's comforting. People seem to be reasonably happy with the job I’m doing.”
The nomination period, in which candidates formally submit their candidacy, goes from May 1 to Aug. 21. The list of certified candidates will be available Aug. 24.
The other councillor to not give a definitive response was Rob Cooper, the newest member of the group. Cooper was elected in September in Ward 9 after former councillor John-Paul Danko became a member of Parliament. Cooper says he’s definitely running again, but hasn’t decided if it will be for his council seat or for mayor.
In an interview on Tuesday, Cooper told CBC Hamilton that, because of the amount of power the mayor holds over budgetary issues in the strong mayor system, he felt shut out of the rate-supported water budget process, which happened in late 2025.
As councillors’ opportunity to weigh in on the tax-supported budget gets started in earnest on Friday, going for about the next month, Cooper says he will use the experience to guide his decision. If the process mirrors his experience with the water budget, "it's not going to work for me,” he said.
“I'm trying to keep an open mind and be collaborative,” he said, “but the way this is set up right now, If you want to make seismic change in a community like Hamilton, there's only one way to do it – through being the mayor.”
CBC Hamilton also reached out to the runners-up in the 2022 mayoral race — Keanin Loomis, the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, and former mayor Bob Bratina — asking about their intentions to run for mayor this year.
In 2022, Horwath won with 59,216 votes. Loomis trailed closely behind with 57,553 and Bratina received 17,436 votes.
Loomis said he would “have more to say about this in the coming weeks.”
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