Meed Ward re-elected Burlington mayor, beating two councillors

Marianne Meed Ward will serve a third term as Burlington's mayor after beating two sitting city councillors in the municipal election on Monday, Oct. 26. Unofficial results show it was a much tighter race than her last run.

Meed Ward finished first with 25,025 votes, or 44.29% of the ballots cast for mayor. Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns came second with 17,070 votes (30.21%), 7,955 votes behind the mayor. Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan was third with 12,650 votes (22.39%).

Further back, Keith Demoe received 1,474 votes (2.60%) and Yugalkeesor Ramdhonee received 273 votes (0.48%).

Those percentages are shares of the votes cast for mayor, not of all Burlington residents or eligible voters. Meed Ward won the most votes, but not a majority of them.

Her winning share was a long way from four years ago. In 2022, Meed Ward won in a landslide with 30,135 votes, or 77.95%, against a thin field in which the runner-up took 13%. This time, the two strongest challengers were people who sit beside her at the council table.

The 2026 result looks more like her first mayoral win. In 2018, Meed Ward unseated a two-term incumbent with 23,360 votes (46.04%). She drew more votes this time than in that first victory, though a slightly smaller share of them.

Burlington also stood apart from its neighbours. Three of Halton Region's four municipalities changed mayors in the same vote. Burlington was the only one that kept its mayor.

More people voted, too. Unofficial results show 56,863 ballots were cast, with 160,089 people eligible to vote, for a turnout of 35.5%.

That is about 5,800 more ballots than in 2018 and about 17,600 more than in 2022, which makes this the largest of the last three elections by raw ballots.

As a share of eligible voters, though, it was not a record. Turnout was well above 2022's 27.6% but short of 2018's 39.79%, because the voters list has grown since 2022.

The result means Meed Ward will lead Burlington's council for another term, after a campaign in which two members of that council asked voters for the job instead.