PEI

Bobby Morrissey elected in Egmont

Liberal incumbent Bobby Morrissey was elected in Egmont Monday night.

Liberal incumbent wins second term

Bobby Morrissey receives a victory hug at his headquarters in Summerside on Monday night. (Steve Bruce/CBC)

After a close race, Liberal candidate Bobby Morrissey was elected Monday night in the P.E.I. riding of Egmont. 

With 88 of 90 polls reporting, Morrissey had 7,464 votes, representing almost 40 per cent of the popular vote. Conservative Logan McLellan was second with 6,572 votes. The Green Party's Alex Clark had 3,690 votes and the NDP's Sharon Dunn had 1,158.

"For me, this is a big win for my campaign team and also for the constituents of Egmont," Morrissey told supporters at his Summerside headquarters.

"It usually takes you more than one term to conclude an agenda you have. So that's why I'm pleased this evening to be heading back to the government side."

Despite the loss, McLellan said it was a strong showing for the Conservatives.

"I thought it would be a tight race, and until the end it was pretty close," he said. "But there was a message for change.  This is a one-term incumbent and we did have a strong showing in this riding."

Conservative candidate Logan McLellan, centre, speaks with his girlfriend, Allison Grimes, and friend Cameron MacMurdo at Red Shores in Summerside on Monday night. (Steve Bruce/CBC)

Up until Conservative Gail Shea won the riding in 2008 by just 55 votes, Egmont had been considered one of the safest Liberal ridings in the country.

Morrissey won the riding back for the Liberals in 2015 when he defeated Shea, a cabinet minister in Stephen Harper's Conservative government. Morrissey was previously a Liberal MLA in the area before becoming a consultant. 

Morrissey watched election results come in at home with family in Tignish before heading to join supporters in Summerside.  

Supporters gathered at Morrissey's headquarters to watch the results come in. (Steve Bruce/CBC)

Three first-time candidates tried to unseat him: McLellan, a financial advisor and entrepreneur from Summerside​​​​​, Clark, a young entrepreneur from Linkletter, and Dunn, a former executive administrative assistant from O'Leary.

For all the up-to-the-minute results and commentary, watch CBC's live blog here: cbc.ca/electionlive and bookmark our results page at cbc.ca/results.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shane Ross

Journalist

Shane Ross is a journalist with CBC News on Prince Edward Island. Previously, he worked as a newspaper reporter and editor in Halifax, Ottawa and Charlottetown. You can reach him at shane.ross@cbc.ca.

With files from Steve Bruce