Toronto election 2026 · Council
Toronto council election results 2026: does Chow still have a majority?
Five of the councillors who voted with Olivia Chow most often are gone. Six of the seven new members ran with labour and progressive endorsements, and her majority now depends on them.
Olivia Chow won a second term on Monday with 54% of the vote to Brad Bradford's 41%. Winning the mayor's chair is half the job. Toronto's mayor gets one vote of 26 at council, so passing anything takes 14.
Before the election, Chow could count on that. Thirteen sitting councillors had voted with her on at least three of every four contested votes since she took office in July 2023. With her own vote, that was exactly 14.
Only eight of those 13 are coming back.
Who left Chow's side of the room
Gord Perks (Ward 4) and Paula Fletcher (Ward 14) retired. Dianne Saxe left University-Rosedale to run in Toronto-Danforth and finished with 8%. Chris Moise lost Toronto Centre to Curran Stikuts, and Jamaal Myers lost Scarborough North to Shaun Chen. All five had voted with Chow at least 78% of the time. Myers, at 84%, was among her most reliable votes.
Two seats moved the other way. Frances Nunziata, on council since 1998, voted with Chow 65% of the time and lost York South-Weston to Chiara Padovani. Bradford, who gave up Beaches-East York to run for mayor, voted with her 43% of the time. Nate Erskine-Smith, the area's Liberal MP from 2015 to 2026, won the seat.
The seven new faces
None of the new members has cast a council vote, so endorsements are the only guide for now.
| Ward | New councillor | Replaces | Predecessor voted with Chow | Endorsed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Parkdale-High Park | Diana Chan McNally | Gord Perks | 79% | Progress Toronto, CUPE 79 |
| 5 York South-Weston | Chiara Padovani | Frances Nunziata | 65% | Labour Council, Progress Toronto |
| 11 University-Rosedale | Mike Layton | Dianne Saxe | 78% | Labour Council, CUPE 79 |
| 13 Toronto Centre | Curran Stikuts | Chris Moise | 80% | Labour Council, CUPE 79 |
| 14 Toronto-Danforth | Sara Ehrhardt | Paula Fletcher | 80% | Labour Council, Progress Toronto, CUPE 79 |
| 19 Beaches-East York | Nate Erskine-Smith | Brad Bradford | 43% | Labour Council, CUPE 79 |
| 23 Scarborough North | Shaun Chen | Jamaal Myers | 84% | A Better City Toronto |
Six of the seven had backing from the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Progress Toronto or CUPE Local 79. If all six turn out to be reliable Chow votes, she has 15, one more than before. Chen ran with the endorsement of A Better City Toronto, the slate that also backed Nunziata, Pasternak, Crisanti and Holyday, in a seat that had been one of Chow's surest.
That's a lot of weight on people who have never voted at City Hall. Layton sat on council from 2010 to 2022, before Chow was mayor, so even his record says nothing about how he'll vote with her.
The middle six decide the close ones
Six re-elected councillors sit in the middle, voting with Chow on 60 to 74% of contested votes: Mike Colle (74%), Michael Thompson (68%), Parthi Kandavel (67%), Lily Cheng (66%), Nick Mantas (64%) and Anthony Perruzza (62%). Four mostly vote against her: Jon Burnside (50%), James Pasternak (41%), Vincent Crisanti (39%) and Stephen Holyday (30%).
Kandavel had the closest race in the city, holding Scarborough Southwest with 36% to Kevin Rupasinghe's 31%. Paul Ainslie won the biggest share, 72% in Scarborough-Guildwood.
Chow's last term ran on a bloc that stuck together. This one runs on six newcomers keeping the promises their endorsers made for them, and on the middle six when they don't.
Every ward
| Ward | Winner | % | Runner-up | % | Voted with Chow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Etobicoke North | Vincent Crisanti | 45.5 | Ala'a Adib | 14.2 | 39% |
| 2 Etobicoke Centre | Stephen Holyday | 57.7 | Katie Andrachuk | 27.6 | 30% |
| 3 Etobicoke-Lakeshore | Amber Morley | 48.3 | Ted Opitz | 37.1 | 81% |
| 4 Parkdale-High Park | Diana Chan McNally | 42.5 | Nadia Guerrera | 27.8 | New |
| 5 York South-Weston | Chiara Padovani | 39.1 | Daniel Di Giorgio | 28.6 | New |
| 6 York Centre | James Pasternak | 71.0 | Conroy Irving | 21.4 | 41% |
| 7 Humber River-Black Creek | Anthony Perruzza | 66.4 | Amanda Coombs | 25.4 | 62% |
| 8 Eglinton-Lawrence | Mike Colle | 70.3 | Liz Grade | 10.8 | 74% |
| 9 Davenport | Alejandra Bravo | 66.5 | Marco Martins | 27.4 | 83% |
| 10 Spadina-Fort York | Ausma Malik | 47.3 | Ian Cunningham | 28.9 | 84% |
| 11 University-Rosedale | Mike Layton | 46.2 | Diana Yoon | 19.1 | New |
| 12 Toronto-St. Paul's | Josh Matlow | 67.6 | Jenny Kalimbet | 18.9 | 80% |
| 13 Toronto Centre | Curran Stikuts | 28.6 | Chris Moise | 23.4 | New |
| 14 Toronto-Danforth | Sara Ehrhardt | 48.8 | Mary Fragedakis | 22.7 | New |
| 15 Don Valley West | Rachel Chernos Lin | 67.5 | Sheena Sharp | 22.6 | 78% |
| 16 Don Valley East | Jon Burnside | 71.3 | Sinan Erdemir | 12.2 | 50% |
| 17 Don Valley North | Shelley Carroll | 62.0 | Sabrina Zuniga | 13.4 | 78% |
| 18 Willowdale | Lily Cheng | 63.1 | David Magazzinich | 20.7 | 66% |
| 19 Beaches-East York | Nate Erskine-Smith | 46.8 | Natalie Johnson | 24.4 | New |
| 20 Scarborough Southwest | Parthi Kandavel | 36.0 | Kevin Rupasinghe | 30.9 | 67% |
| 21 Scarborough Centre | Michael Thompson | 51.1 | Krissan Veerasingam | 14.8 | 68% |
| 22 Scarborough-Agincourt | Nick Mantas | 40.7 | Bill Chan | 17.4 | 64% |
| 23 Scarborough North | Shaun Chen | 35.9 | Jamaal Myers | 25.3 | New |
| 24 Scarborough-Guildwood | Paul Ainslie | 72.3 | Robert Bazil | 9.2 | 79% |
| 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park | Neethan Shan | 44.8 | Shawn Allen | 27.1 | 85% |
Results for the mayor's race, ward by ward, are in the Toronto mayor results map. Mayoral races across the province are in the Ontario results roundup.
