Olivia Chow Re-elected as Toronto Mayor With 54% of the Vote

Olivia Chow has been re-elected mayor of Toronto, winning 54% of the vote against former city councillor Brad Bradford, who received 41%. The Guardian reported that Chow won by 13 percentage points, with more than 532,000 votes, while Bradford drew nearly 400,000. The election drew record turnout, according to the same report.

Chow is a long-serving figure in Toronto politics. She has previously been a school board trustee, a city councillor and a federal member of parliament, the elected representative in Canada's national legislature. She first took the mayor's office in 2023, after winning a by-election, a special vote held between regular elections to fill a vacancy. Bradford, an urban planner, previously sat on Toronto city council.

According to the Guardian, no incumbent mayor who has sought re-election in Toronto has ever lost. Chow's win keeps that record intact.

CBC News reported that her second term will last four years. During the campaign and after her victory, Chow promised more rental housing, free school lunches and reduced fares for frequent transit riders. Those are campaign commitments, and how they will be funded or carried out has not yet been set out.

On public safety, Chow has increased the size of the Toronto police hate crimes unit. She has also pushed for a bubble zone bylaw, a local rule that would bar protests within 50 metres of places of worship, schools, childcare centres and other vulnerable institutions.