Donna Skelly wins Ward 7 byelection to be newest city councillor

Former CHCHTV reporter and on-air personalityDonnaSkellywas elected Monday by a margin of fewer than 100 votes to represent Ward 7 on Hamilton Mountain.

And in an area with a strong NDP base,the resultwas a left-wing fear that came true a candidate with Conservative ties became Hamilton's newest city councillor.

With 1,967 votes, she brushed past John-Paul Danko, who had 1,875. And notably, Uzma Qureshi, who former councillor Scott Duvall and other NDPers aggressively endorsed, came third with 1,521 votes.

I'm not going to just take the popular side of things.If it offends people or if it ruffles some feathers, so be it.- Donna Skelly, Ward 7 councillor-elect

Duvall, who is an NDP MP for Hamilton Mountain, and Monique Taylor, the Mountain's NDP MPP, had penned a letter to voters just before Monday's vote warning that a right-leaning councillor could win the byelection if left-leaning voters split their vote.

Despite other candidates with NDP support in the race, Duvall and Taylor encouraged a strategic vote for Qureshi.

"A split vote will put our tradition in jeopardy," the letter warned.

"It creates a path for other candidates with ties to the Conservative party to come up the middle and win where they wouldn't be able to otherwise."

• 2 NDP politicians urge strategic voting in final hours of Ward 7 campaign
• 5 reasons you should care who wins the Ward 7 byelection on Monday

With Skelly's win, that materialized. The former CHCH reporter has run for the Conservatives twice. She came out ahead in a crowded fieldof 22 candidates. Voter turnout was24.35 per cent, or 10,063 of 41,332 eligible voters.

Skelly broke tradition on Monday, skipping the usual city hall stop where media and other politicians gathered. Instead, she stayed with supporters at the Mount Hamilton Legion.

Skelly said that's not the only way she'll be different from other councillors.

She plans to make strengthening Concession Street and better transit in Ward 7 a priority. She said she's not afraid to be "politically incorrect" when expressing her views.

"I'm not going to just take the popular side of things," she said. "If it offends people or if it ruffles some feathers, so be it. I think that's what people want in a city councillor."

As an example, Skelly said social housing won't be a priority for her, and Ward 7 already has all it can manage.

Skelly lives in Ward 8 right now, but said she's already looking for a new house in Ward 7.

She will be sworn in on March 30.

Other candidates were as follows:

• RobertBolton
• PhilipBradshaw
• Shaun Burt
• Bob Charters
• DougFarraway
• Tim Gordon
• ChelseyHeroux
• LucHetu
• GeraldineMcMullen
• Glenn Murphy
• PaulNagy
• AnthonyNicholl
• JeannePacey
• HowardRabb
• MohammadShahrouri
• DaminStarr
• LouisVecchioni
• Robert Young
• HansZuriel