Here's who is running so far in the 2022 municipal election in Hamilton

With Aug. 19 quickly approaching as the last day to file nominations, the list of candidates in this year's municipal election has grown considerably.

May 2, 2022, was the first day for candidates to file their nomination papers. 

Since that day, however, many more candidates have joined the race. 

The municipal elections are taking place on Oct. 24.

Four candidates for mayor so far

Four candidates are in the running as of July 26 to replace outgoing Mayor Fred Eisenberger. 

Eisenberger, 69, announced in June that he won't seek another term, saying it's time for him "to move on to the next chapter of his life."

The registered candidates are: 

• Andrea Horwath: Former Ontario NDP leader and councillor (registering July 26) 
• Bob Bratina: Former mayor, Liberal MP and ward 2 councillor 
• Keanin Loomis: Former president and CEO of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce
• Ejaz Butt: Veteran taxi industry leader and immigrant from Pakistan

Mortgage broker Steven Hencze had also filed his name, but has since withdrawn.

Some wards up for grabs, others have no competition for incumbents

The list of candidates for councillor has also been growing since May, but the number of candidates varies significantly from ward to ward.

Ward 4 has become Hamilton's most crowded space, with a school board trustee, a McMaster grad from Colombia, a union president, and more in the running. Current Ward 4 councillor Sam Merulla is not running. 

In addition to Ward 4, others without an incumbent are wards 5, 11, 12, and 13 as Russ Powers, Brenda Johnson, Lloyd Ferguson and Judi Partridge have also confirmed they are not running.

Other wards, however, only have the incumbent listed as running so far. That's true in wards 6, 9 and 13. 

Terry Whitehead of Ward 14 is not yet registered but did tell the Hamilton Spectator in May he planned to run. In June however he said he was taking another leave from his role as councillor due to his health.

Other notable recent announcements have come from former councillor and NDP MP Scott Duvall, joining the race in Ward 7, former Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin running in Ward 15 and prominent environmental advocate and executive director of Environment Hamilton Lynda Lukasik, for Ward 5 councillor. 

Candidates so far are: 

• Ward 1: Maureen Wilson and Ian MacPherson.
• Ward 2: Cameron Kroetsch and Raquel Rakovac.
• Ward 3: Nrinder Nann, Laura Farr, Walter Furlan, and Jonathan Wasylenko.
• Ward 4: Alex Johnstone, Angelica Hasbon, Maxwell Francis, Mary Louise Williams, Laura Taylor, Pascale Marchand, Tammy Hwang, Adam Oldfield, Eric James Tuck, and Cindy Louise Kennedy.
• Ward 5: Matt Francis, Bob Hurst, Kevin Geenen, Sebastian Aldea and Lynda Lukasik.
• Ward 6: Tom Jackson.
• Ward 7: Ester Pauls, and Scott Duvall.
• Ward 8: John-Paul Danko and Anthony Frisina.

• Ward 9: Brad Clark.
• Ward 10: Maria Pearson and Jeff Beattie.
• Ward 11: Nicholas Lauwers, and Mark Tadeson.
• Ward 12: Craig Cassar, Robert Maton, Megg Markettos, Karl Hanley, and Cindy Kaye.
• Ward 13: Arlene VanderBeek.
• Ward 14: Kojo Damptey, Brian Lewis, and Colleen Wicken. 
• Ward 15: Ted McMeekin. 

School board trustees

Two former Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) students, Ahona Mehdi and Sabreina Dahab, are running for school board trustee positions.

Mehdi is running for the position representing Wards 8 and 14.

Dahab is running in Ward 2. 

Other candidates for English public school board trustees are: 

• Ward 1: Graeme Noble, Elizabeth Wong, and Cameron Prosic.
• Ward 2: Sabreina Dahab and Andrew Smyth. 
• Ward 3: Maria Felix Miller. 
• Ward 4: Ray Mulholland.
• Ward 5 and 10: Nancy Silva Khan, Todd White. 
• Ward 6 and 9: Jay Edington and Kathy Archer. 
• Ward 8 and 14: Ahona Mehdi and Becky Buck.
• Ward 11 and 12: Tom Patterson, Amanda Fehrman and Charlie Wang.
• Ward 13: Paul Tut and Larry Masters.
• Ward 15: Catherine Kronas.

Candidates for English separate school board trustees:

• Ward 1, 2 and 15: Mark Valvasori.
• Ward 3 and 4: Ralph Agostino. 
• Ward 5: Aldo D'Intino.
• Ward 6: Ellen Agostino, Peter Mamer and Anthony Mari.
• Ward 7: Patrick John Daly.
• Ward 12 and 13: Phil Homerski.
• Ward 8 and 14: John Valvasori.
• Ward 9 and 11: Tyler Iorio and Louis Agro.
• Ward 10: Mary Angela Nardini and Andrea Di Nicola.

So far, Marcel Levesque is the only person who has put their name down for councillor of the conseil scolaire Catholique MonAvenir, according to the city. No one has yet put down their name for the conseil scolaire Viamonde.

For the full list of registered candidates, please visit the City of Hamilton's website.