Dancho poised to keep Kildonan-St. Paul Tory-blue for a third time

Raquel Dancho’s tried-and-true campaign tactics appear to have kept Kildonan-St. Paul blue.

Dancho, 35, is expected to return to Parliament Hill to represent residents of northeastern Winnipeg and surrounding municipalities.

The incumbent Conservative looked to be on her way to securing her third term Monday night, although it was a tighter race than in years past.

With 150 of 208 polls — 70 per cent of them — reporting at 11:10 p.m., she had 49 per cent of the vote.

Dancho’s re-election campaign barred media entry to her election-night party, pending the results of the race.

Runner-up Thomas Naaykens, a first-time candidate who ran under the Liberals’ banner, was trailing with 42 per cent of the vote. NDP candidate Emily Clark less than eight per cent of the vote. 

Naaykens was pacing around a warehouse in the riding decorated in red-and-white streamers and balloons shortly after the polls closed.

“I’d like the time to go by a little quicker,” the 36-year-old said with a nervous chuckle as he made small talk with supporters, stealing glances at the ever-changing early polling results on a live national broadcast.

The room erupted into cheers when broadcast projected a Liberal government. It quieted as results poured in for Kildonan-St. Paul.

Naaykens said he was physically exhausted and, regardless of the outcome, proud of his team of volunteers and all the ground they covered over the last 36 days.

His team’s calculations indicate he walked about 15 kilometres daily during the campaign. He estimated that he knocked on 500 doors every day.

Multiple last-minute voters who flocked to a polling station at Garden City Shopping Centre said they wanted “change,” in response to questions about what had influenced their decision at the ballot box.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca