Ken Sim will be next mayor of Vancouver, CBC News projects

CBC News is projecting that Ken Sim will be Vancouver's next mayor, emerging victorious in his second run for the seat with a dominant lead over incumbent Kennedy Stewart.

With 96of 106 voting places reporting, Sim had69,677 votes to Stewart's 41,624as of midnight on election day.

"I literally wanna hug every single person in this room," Sim told cheering supporters on Saturday.

"Thank you for not giving up on the promise we can make Vancouver a better city."

It appears he'll have the support of a commanding majority of council, with all seven council candidates from the centre-right ABC Vancouver topping the polls. All ABC candidates for school board and park board were also poised for victory.

Sim will make history as the first person of colour to be elected to the city's highest office, and he acknowledged that milestone in his victory speech.

"One hundred and thirty-fiveyears after the first Chinese head tax was paid just for the right to come here and work on building a railway, Vancouver has elected its first Chinese Canadianmayor," he said.

Sim's strong showing this year follows a narrowloss inthe 2018 election as the candidate for the Non-Partisan Association (NPA)when he was edged out by Stewart with a margin of just957 votes.

Watch | Ken Sim celebrates decisive victory:

Ken Sim addresses supporters after projected victory in Vancouver

2 years ago

Duration 12:56

Vancouver's new mayor-elect celebrates what appears to be a decisive win for him and ABC Vancouver in the 2022 municipal election.

This time,Sim and his newly formed ABC ran a campaign capitalizing on public safety concerns and earned the controversial endorsement of the Vancouver Police Union.

Hiscouncil slateincludes former police officer Brian Montague, and the party has promised to immediately hire 100 new officers and 100 new mental health nurses, as well as to resume the liaison officer program in schools.

Sim attributed his victory to prioritizing door-knocking and talking directly to voters.

"When people asked how ABC Vancouver came out of nowhere, the answer is we worked really, really hard," he said.

Sim also pledged in his victory speechto plant 100,000 new trees and to expand the legal consumption of alcohol in parks.

Stewart says being mayor was the 'honour of my life'

Stewart conceded the race in a speech to supporters on Saturday night, saying he was proud of his record on building new housing and dealing with the toxic drug crisis.

"I do think we got the city through pretty hard times," the outgoing mayor said. "It has been the honour of my life to serve the city of Vancouver. I think we've made a lot of progress on a lot of issues."

Watch | Kennedy Stewart concedes Vancouver mayoral race:

Kennedy Stewart concedes Vancouver mayoral race

2 years ago

Duration 6:11

The incumbent candidate for mayor of Vancouver admits defeat to ABC Vancouver's Ken Sim in the 2022 municipal election.

With all ABC candidates leading in the race for council, the leading candidates for the three remaining seats are incumbents Adriane Carr and Pete Fry of the Green Party and Christine Boyle of OneCity.

The NPA, Vancouver's oldest civic party, is set to be wiped out of public office in the city. Returning council candidates Sarah Kirby-Yung, Lisa Dominatoand Rebecca Bligh were all elected in 2018 on the NPA ticket but resigned from the party during the last term and ran for ABC this time around.

Voters were faced with a very long list of choices for public office in this election.

In all, the ballots listed 137 candidates vying for 27 positions in the government of B.C.'s biggest city, along with three Capital Plan plebiscite questions.

Live results:

Polls close at 8 p.m. PT.

Other results: