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Tom Dyas thanks his volunteer team and City Staff after his election win Saturday night. (Image Credit: Vernon Matters staff)
By Glenn Hicks
Local elections

Tom Dyas re-elected Kelowna mayor in close race

Oct 18, 2026 | 12:24 AM

Tom Dyas has been re-elected mayor of Kelowna after a close race with challenger, city councillor, and former MP Ron Cannan.

So close were vote counting proceedings on Saturday night that Dyas waited until all 22 of the polling stations had reported their tallies before he arrived for his celebratory event downtown.

Dyas won by fewer than a thousand votes.

Dyas and Cannan had been swapping the lead throughout the early part of the night, although once Dyas opened a thousand vote lead later on, he never relinquished that advantage again.

In the end he defeated Cannan by 969 votes, recording 50.54 per cent, or 19,451 of the 38,970 total votes.

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Cannan secured 48.02 per cent of the vote, or 18,482 votes, while fringe candidate Andrew Uitvlugt had 1.44 per cent, or 556 votes.

The unofficial results are as follows:

Mayor

Tom Dyas will serve as Mayor of the City of Kelowna with 19,451 votes.

City Council

The following candidates have been elected as Kelowna City Councillors:

Gord Lovegrove – 15,462 votes

Davis Kyle – 14,822 votes

Kevin Aaron Kraft – 13,505 votes

Brady Rogers – 12,635 votes

Rick Webber – 12,512 votes

Mohini Singh – 11,968 votes

Laura Thurnheer – 11,949 votes

Les Bellamy – 11,470 votes

School District No. 23 Trustees

The following candidates have been elected as School Trustees for School District No. 23:

Jim Strachan – 21,118 votes

Val Johnson – 17,612 votes

Richard Gauthier – 16,457 votes

Joyce Helen Brinkerhoff – 14,351 votes

Voter turnout is estimated at 31 per cent of eligible voters.

The Chief Election Officer will review the results and is expected to declare the official results by Oct. 21.

by Glenn Hicks
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