EDMONTON — After missing out on a seat twice before, the third time was the charm for NDP candidate Rob Miyashiro, who is now headed to the Alberta legislature to represent Lethbridge-West.
According to the unofficial Elections Alberta byelection vote count late Wednesday night, Miyashiro secured 7,239 votes — or 53.4 per cent of ballots cast — holding onto the riding the party has represented since 2015.
The United Conservative Party's John Middleton-Hope trailed him by 1,150 ballots.
Miyashiro served two terms as a local city councillor, and ran provincially in Lethbridge-East — once under the NDP last year, and once under the Liberals in 2012.
He celebrated his victory Wednesday night sporting an NDP orange suit.
Speaking to The Canadian Press Thursday, Miyashiro said the result sends a message to UCP Premier Danielle Smith.
"People in Lethbridge-West are just the tip of what people in Alberta are feeling about not just a year and a half of Danielle Smith government, but five and a half years of UCP government," said Miyashiro.
He said a lack of access to family doctors and concerns over health-care delivery were big issues with voters on the doorsteps.
He has worked 40 years in human services, helping seniors, people with disabilities, and children and families.
"My job every day in my entire career was to make people's lives better," he said.
In a statement to The Canadian Press, Middleton-Hope expressed gratitude for the support he received throughout the campaign.
"While the result wasn’t what we hoped for, we made significant strides and closed the gap considerably," he said, noting he will return to his role on Lethbridge's city council.
Middleton-Hope garnered an estimated 44.9 per cent of the total vote, a bump from the previous UCP candidate's 42.5 per cent support in the 2023 general election.
The legislature seat was left vacant after New Democrat Shannon Phillips resigned on July 1.
Speaking on the Ryan Jespersen podcast Thursday, Smith praised Middleton-Hope's "fantastic effort," but said the riding is "one of the safest NDP seats in the province." She also noted that the UCP reduced the NDP's margin of victory.
"I would say that that isn't exactly a glowing approval of the new (NDP) leadership that they have if they're losing their historic support one of their strongest ridings," she said, while also congratulating Miyashiro.
For his part, Miyashiro thanked Middleton-Hope for a clean campaign run without any mudslinging.
But he pushed back at the premier.
"There are no safe NDP seats south of Edmonton," he said, pointing to Phillips' 2019 victory by less than a percentage point, or just over 200 votes.
NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said Smith and the UCP "threw everything they had on this election.
"They cynically called it close to Christmas because they didn’t want busy students and families to vote," said Nenshi.
The Alberta Party's Layton Veverka finished the race a distant third with 233 votes.
Unofficial results show of the riding's 37,096 eligible voters, more than 13,561 cast a ballot — or 36.5 per cent.
In the general election in 2023, turnout was 61.5 per cent.
The official byelection results will be announced Dec. 28.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2024.
Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press
