# 2018 Toronto mayoral election

The 2018 Toronto mayoral election was held on Monday, October 22, 2018, to elect the Mayor of the city of Toronto. Incumbent Mayor John Tory was re-elected for a second term, defeating former Chief City Planner Jennifer Keesmaat with 63.49% of the vote. Tory won all of Toronto’s 25 wards.
Registration for candidates for the office of Mayor officially opened on May 1, 2018, and closed on July 27, 2018, at 2 pm. Incumbent John Tory has been Mayor of Toronto since being elected in 2014 and launched his bid for re-election on May 1, 2018. Former city councillor Doug Ford declared his intent to run, but later withdrew to seek the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Former Chief City Planner Jennifer Keesmaat was speculated to be considering entering the race, and after initially indicating she would not run, she announced her candidacy on July 27, 2018, the last day to register as a candidate.

## Candidates

Official registration for mayoral candidates opened May 1, 2018, and closed on July 27. At the close of nominations, 35 candidates have registered to run in the election.

### Registered major candidates

* John Tory is the incumbent Mayor of Toronto, first elected in 2014 after having lost to David Miller in 2003 and declining to run in 2010. Former CEO of Rogers Media and Rogers Cable, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 2005–2009, local talk radio host, and former Canadian Football League commissioner.
* Jennifer Keesmaat was appointed Chief City Planner of Toronto by former Mayor Rob Ford in 2012, and was speculated to be considering entering politics when she left the position in 2017. An urban planner and advocate for affordable housing, she initially declined to run for mayor but announced her candidacy on July 27, 2018.

### All candidates

Full list of registered candidates :
| Candidate name | Nomination date |
| Dobrosav Basaric | July 26, 2018 |
| Chris Brosky | July 27, 2018 |
| Drew Buckingham | July 27, 2018 |
| Brian Buffey | July 27, 2018 |
| Logan Choy | July 27, 2018 |
| Daryl Christoff | July 27, 2018 |
| Kevin Clarke | May 8, 2018 |
| Sarah Climenhaga | May 1, 2018 |
| Mike Gallay | May 1, 2018 |
| Saron Gebresellassi | May 1, 2018 |
| Faith Goldy | July 27, 2018 |
| Brian Graff | May 1, 2018 |
| Tofazzel Haque | May 7, 2018 |
| Monowar Hossain | July 18, 2018 |
| Christopher Humphrey | July 13, 2018 |
| Chai Kalevar | July 26, 2018 |
| Andrzej Kardys | July 27, 2018 |
| Jennifer Keesmaat | July 27, 2018 |
| Steven Lam | June 5, 2018 |
| Kris Langenfeld | June 29, 2018 |
| Jim McMillan | July 16, 2018 |
| Gautam Nath | June 8, 2018 |
| Michael Nicula | July 26, 2018 |
| Thomas O'Neill | July 12, 2018 |
| Joseph Osuju | July 20, 2018 |
| Joseph Pampena | June 11, 2018 |
| Josh Rachlis | July 27, 2018 |
| D!ONNE Renée | July 27, 2018 |
| Jim Ruel | July 10, 2018 |
| James Sears | May 1, 2018 |
| Knia Singh | June 21, 2018 |
| John Tory | May 1, 2018 |
| Jakob Vardy | July 6, 2018 |
| Ion Gelu Vintila | July 25, 2018 |
| Jack Weenen | July 3, 2018 |

### Formerly declared candidates

* Doug Ford, former city councillor and runner-up in the 2014 mayoral election, announced his intention to challenge for the office a second time at a September 2017 event. However, he announced in January 2018 that he would seek the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and would not run in the mayoral election.
* Blayne Lastman, son of former mayor Mel Lastman, declared on July 25 that he would enter the race, but announced a day later that he would not run.

### Declined candidates

* Olivia Chow, placed third in the 2014 mayoral election and former MP for Trinity—Spadina.
* Desmond Cole, advocacy journalist.
* Mike Layton, city councillor for Ward 19 Trinity—Spadina (2010–2022).
* Sue-Ann Levy, on June 17, 2018, Levy appeared on The Rebel Media and said that she was open to the possibility of a 2018 mayoral run.
* Giorgio Mammoliti, former city councillor for Ward 7 York West (2000–2018), former MPP for Yorkview (1990–1995).
* Richard Peddie, former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

## Debates

List of Debates :
| Date | Hosted by | Participants | Moderator | Ref |
| September 24, 2018 | ArtsVote Toronto | Tory, Keesmaat, Gebresellassi, Climenhaga, Nath | | |
| September 26, 2018 | University of Toronto Scarborough | Keesmaat, Gebresellassi, Climenhaga | | |

## Opinion polls

| Polling firm | Last date of polling | Link | Keesmaat | Tory | Other |
| DART Insight and Communications | October 12–15, 2018 | PDF | 27 | 62 | |
| Forum Research | October 10, 2018 | PDF | 29 | 56 | 15 |
| Forum Research | October 5, 2018 | PDF | 29 | 56 | 15 |
| Mainstreet Research | September 25, 2018 | HTML | 31 | 64 | Faith Goldy 2% Sarah Climenhaga 1% Saron Gebressellassi 1% Other 1% |
| Forum Research | September 24, 2018 | PDF | 28 | 56 | 16 |
| Mainstreet Research | September 16, 2018 | HTML | 26 | 62 | Faith Goldy 6% Other 6% |
| Mainstreet Research | September 5, 2018 | HTML | 28 | 63 | 10 |
| Probit Inc. | September 5, 2018 | Twitter | 31 | 64 | Faith Goldy 3% Other 2% |
| Forum Research | August 27, 2018 | PDF | 35 | 65 | |
| Forum Research | July 27, 2018 | PDF | 30 | 70 | |

## Endorsements

| | Keesmaat | Keesmaat | Tory | Tory |
| City councillors | Kristyn Wong-Tam Mike Layton Joe Cressy Gord Perks Joe Mihevc | [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] | Denzil Minnan-Wong Jon Burnside Christin Carmichael Greb Frances Nunziata | |
| Federal politicians | | | Shaun Chen (Liberal, Scarborough North) Ali Ehsassi (Liberal, Willowdale) Michael Levitt (Liberal, York Centre) James Maloney (Liberal, Etobicoke-Lakeshore) John McKay (Liberal, Scarborough-Guildwood) Marco Mendicino (Liberal, Eglinton-Lawrence) Rob Oliphant (Liberal, Don Valley West) Yasmin Ratansi (Liberal, Don Valley East) Judy Sgro (Liberal, Humber River-Black Creek) Geng Tan (Liberal, Don Valley North) Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Liberal, Etobicoke Centre) Jean Yip (Liberal, Scarborough-Agincourt) | [31] [31] [32] [33] [31] [34] [31] [35] [36] [31] [31] [31] |
| Provincial politicians | Jessica Bell (NDP, University-Rosedale) Suze Morrison (NDP, Toronto Centre) Marit Stiles (NDP, Davenport) Doly Begum (NDP, Scarborough Southwest) | [37] [37] [37] [37] | Mitzie Hunter (Liberal, Scarborough-Guildwood) | |
| Former politicians | Olivia Chow (NDP MP) | | Jean Augustine (Liberal MP) John Baird (Conservative MP & MPP) John Carmichael (Conservative MP) Alvin Curling (Liberal MPP) C.S. Leung (Conservative MP) Peter MacKay (Conservative MP) Joe Oliver (Conservative MP) Sandra Pupatello (Liberal MPP) | [31] [40] [41] [31] [31] [42] [43] [31] |
| Media | Daily Xtra Spacing Magazine | [44] [45] | Toronto Sun Toronto Star | |
| Other | Richard Peddie (Former President and CEO MLSE) Richard Underhill (Juno Award winning musician) Toronto & York Region Labour Council Elementary Teachers of Toronto Guillermo "Gil" Penalosa (World Urban Parks Ambassador) Tabatha Southey Vision Zero Canada Jean Yoon Bruce Arthur (Toronto Star Sports Columnist) Charles Spearin (Broken Social Scene) Edward Keenan (Toronto Star Columnist) Heather Mallick (Toronto Star Columnist) | [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] | Director X Claire Emma Kirk Peter MacKay Jeanne Beker Gary Slaight Gordon Nixon Sheetal Jaitly | [60] [61] [30] [62] [63] [64] [65] |

## Results

Official results from the City of Toronto.
| Candidate | Number of votes | % of popular vote |
| John Tory (X) | 479,659 | 63.49 |
| Jennifer Keesmaat | 178,193 | 23.59 |
| Faith Goldy | 25,667 | 3.40 |
| Saron Gebresellassi | 15,222 | 2.01 |
| Steven Lam | 5,920 | 0.78 |
| Sarah Climenhaga | 4,765 | 0.63 |
| Kevin Clarke | 3,853 | 0.51 |
| Monowar Hossain | 3,602 | 0.48 |
| Logan Choy | 3,518 | 0.47 |
| Knia Singh | 3,244 | 0.43 |
| Dobrosav Basaric | 2,882 | 0.38 |
| Chris Brosky | 2,782 | 0.37 |
| Jim McMillan | 2,422 | 0.32 |
| Tofazzel Haque | 2,307 | 0.31 |
| Drew Buckingham | 1,971 | 0.26 |
| Mike Gallay | 1,940 | 0.26 |
| Daryl Christoff | 1,751 | 0.23 |
| Gautam Nath | 1,474 | 0.20 |
| Christopher Humphrey | 1,428 | 0.19 |
| Thomas O'Neill | 1,325 | 0.18 |
| D!ONNE Renée | 1,280 | 0.17 |
| Brian Buffey | 1,275 | 0.17 |
| Brian Graff | 1,139 | 0.15 |
| Michael Nicula | 1,048 | 0.14 |
| Andrzej Kardys | 1,035 | 0.14 |
| Joseph Pampena | 773 | 0.10 |
| Jakob Vardy | 757 | 0.10 |
| Kris Langenfeld | 695 | 0.09 |
| James Sears | 680 | 0.09 |
| Chai Kalevar | 615 | 0.08 |
| Jack Weenen | 607 | 0.08 |
| Ion Gelu Vintila | 565 | 0.07 |
| Joseph Osuji | 486 | 0.06 |
| Josh Rachlis | 337 | 0.04 |
| Jim Ruel | 276 | 0.04 |
| Invalid/blank votes | | — |
| Total | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | | |

### Maps

* Percentage of votes cast for Jennifer Keesmaat by ward
* Percentage of votes cast for Faith Goldy by ward
* Percentage of votes cast for Saron Gebresellassi by ward