Scott Gillingham will seek 2nd term as Winnipeg mayor

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham says he will seek a second term in 2026, when the city holds its next general election.

The former pastor and St. James councillor announced his re-election plans with zero fanfare on Wednesday, issuing a one-word email in response to a CBC News query about whether intends to run again.

"Yes," said Gillingham spokesperson Colin Fast in a statement, declining further comment.

Gillingham was elected mayor in 2022, winning an 11-candidate race to succeed former mayor Brian Bowman, who now sits as a judge on Manitoba's Court of King's Bench.

The margin of victory in that election was the closest for a Winnipeg mayoral race since 1977. Gillingham slipped past former Winnipeg mayor and Ontario Liberal MPP Glen Murray by 4,391 votes, attracting 27.5 per cent of the vote compared to Murray's 25.3 per cent.

Gillingham's share of the popular vote in 2022 was also the lowest for any mayor in recent Winnipeg memory. Susan Thompson collected the second-lowest percentage in 1995, when she garnered 38.3 per cent of the popular vote.

It is unclear whether the tight nature of the 2022 race will encourage other candidates from that election to try again.

CBC News could not reach Murray for comment. He divides his time between Winnipeg and Toronto. 

Kevin Klein, a former city councillor and PC MLA who finished third in Winnipeg's 2022 mayoral race with 14.8 per cent of the popular vote, did not respond to queries about his potential interest in another run. Klein is now president and CEO of the Klein Group, which owns the Winnipeg Sun.

Shaun Loney, who finished fourth in the 2022 race with 14.7 per cent of the vote, said Wednesday he will not run again in 2026. 

Loney, a founder of several social enterprises, said while he was initially encouraged by early outreach efforts from Gillingham, he is no longer playing an advisory role at city hall.

"My door remains open to helping the city reduce crime and with social enterprises and keeping young people at home with green jobs," Loney said in a statement.

"My efforts to partner with the mayor and council in these areas — which the city sorely needs — have unfortunately not borne fruit."

The other seven mayoral candidates in 2022 earned a combined 17.7 per cent of the popular vote.

The last time an incumbent mayor was defeated in an election in Winnipeg was in 1956, when Stephen Juba defeated George Sharpe after the latter completed a single two-year term.

Juba and his successors — Bill Norrie, Thompson, Murray, Sam Katz and Brian Bowman — went on to win every election they contested while they served as mayor.

It remains to be seen whether Gillingham is more vulnerable to a challenge than previous incumbents.

On one hand, the former St. James councillor has largely avoided scandal. His largest crisis, the anger over the Winnipeg Police Service's decision not to search the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of murdered Indigenous women, largely stuck to former Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson.

On the other hand, this city continues to struggle with social disparity, homelessness, crime, a shortage of capital to finance major infrastructure projects and increases to the cost of living, including this year's property-tax hike, the largest in Winnipeg in decades.

The next civic election is slated for Oct. 28, 2026.