NDP loses long-held Hamilton Centre riding, as CBC projects win by Liberal Aslam Rana

In a dramatic change for Hamilton Centre, the NDP no longer hold the federal riding —  a first since it was created in 2004. 

After a close race, by 3:30 a.m., Liberal candidate Aslam Rana was projected by CBC News to win what's long been an NDP stronghold, as ballots continue to be counted. With 225 of 227 polls counted, he had just over 37 per cent of the vote, or 20,254 votes. 

Rana was in a tight race for most of the evening with Conservative candidate Hayden Lawrence, who had 16,543 votes as of 3:30 a.m.. Meanwhile NDP incumbent Matthew Green, who was elected in 2019, was in third, with 15,689 votes. 

Green admitted defeat in the early hours of Tuesday morning, in a speech to supporters.

"My heart is full and I am grateful and there is so much love to be had in our community despite the division and uncertainty," Green said.

"I will tell you coming into this I had the quiet confidence in the work we put in. But sometimes in life, as I tell my son, you can work as hard as you can possibly work and still come up short." 

Rana spoke to CBC Hamilton around 1 a.m. Tuesday after he'd established a lead over Lawrence. 

A engineering professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, Rana said he thought had a chance of winning with Mark Carney as the leader fo the Liberal Party.  

"The way he stood against the U.S. and unjustified tariffs, I was confident he'd make the difference," Rana said. 

He lives in Mississauga, but said he'd be moving to Hamilton "first thing" as he'd made a "pinky promise" to his friends and supporters. 

When he decided to run, Rana had told his family the campaign would be "no big deal," his daughter Farah said in a speech early Tuesday. 

"The next thing you know, our house looked like an Amazon warehouse with campaign flyers," she said. "But seriously, we had a month and a half to build a campaign. With a lot of heart, a lot of a coffee and a questionable sleep schedule, we did it."  

The riding of Hamilton East-Stoney Creek may also flip. As of 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, Conservative candidate Ned Kuruc was ahead of Liberal incumbent Chad Collins with 231 of 237 polls counted. 

Nationally, CBC News is projecting the Liberals will form the next government.