Saint John councillor Donna Reardon. (Image submitted)
Long-time city councillor Donna Reardon has become the next mayor of Saint John.
Unofficial results from Elections New Brunswick show Reardon received 10,089 votes or 60 per cent of the total vote.
Mel Vincent Jr. finished in second place with 5,895 votes, followed by Darrell Bastarache with 467 votes and Howard Yeomans with 312 votes.
Vincent’s campaign announced it had phoned Reardon to concede after the results were announced.
Reardon said the feeling was “euphoric” after seeing the large 4,000-plus vote lead she had with results still coming in.
“I’ve done a lot of work, a lot of hard work, so it’s a great feeling,” Reardon said.
She cited her nine-year track record and her hard work campaigning across the city for giving her a boost in the voter’s box.
Vincent Jr. issued a concession announcement just after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. He let Reardon know he’ll fully support her as she takes on the role of mayor.
“We offered our support to help her in any way grow Saint John,” Vincent said. “She was very conciliatory, and certainly asked us not to go anywhere and stay in touch.
“That’s a reflection of who (Reardon) is and who I am too. This isn’t about me vs. her, it’s about giving the electorate a choice.”
Don Darling, the city’s outgoing mayor, served for the past five years and opted not to reoffer for the job last year.
Reardon served as a councillor under Darling during his term and says she looks forward to hitting the ground running with the new slate of councillors.
“We’re going to just keep rolling here. We’re going to, not literally, set this place on fire,” she said. “All the groundwork’s been done by the previous council, and now we just need to get going.”
She noted there are some tight races in Ward 3 and 4 and wasn’t sure if any recounts would need to be conducted.
A total of 47 people vied for 10 council seats in the Common Council chambers, including six incumbents.
Brent Harris and incumbent Gary Sullivan led the eight candidates for the city’s two councillor-at-large positions.
In Ward 1, where there were seven people running for two seats, incumbent Greg Norton and Joanna Killen had the most votes. Killen finished 375 votes ahead of incumbent Blake Armstrong.
Ward 2 had Barry Ogden and incumbent John MacKenzie come out on top. There were 14 people running for the ward’s two seats.
Over in Ward 3, Gerry Lowe and incumbent David Hickey picked up the most votes and were separated by just eight votes. They were among eight people seeking two seats in the ward.
And in Ward 4, where there were 10 people running for two seats, Greg Stewart and Paula Radwan narrowly led the pack. Stewart had 1,141 votes and Radwan had 1,128, while Gina Hooley was just eight votes behind.
Incumbent councillors Blake Armstrong and Ray Strowbridge were defeated.
“I’m looking forward to meeting my team, and getting organized as a group for us to start building Saint John,” Reardon said.
Voter turnout in Saint John was 34.55 per cent, above the provincial turnout of 30.35 per cent.
You can find the full list of results for Saint John and municipalities across New Brunswick through Elections New Brunswick’s website.
