Councillor Brad Bradford is running to be Toronto’s next mayor.
In an exclusive interview with The Brandon Gonez Show, Bradford confirmed he’s throwing his hat in the ring for the municipal election in 2026.
“In October of 2026, my name will be on the ballot to be the next mayor of the City of Toronto. I’m really excited about it,” Bradford told Brandon Gonez on Tuesday.
The Ward 19, Beaches-East York councillor is believed to be the first candidate to confirm their intention of running for Toronto’s next mayor, with the election set for Oct. 26, 2026.
Bradford, a former urban planner, was first elected to City Hall in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. He also ran in the 2023 mayoral election, finishing in eighth place. He says the city is not living up to its potential and failing at the basics – a major driver for why he wants to run for leadership once again.
“You know, when you lose you learn,” Bradford shared. ”There were a lot of amazing lessons that I learned, experiences that have shaped my perspective (in) the two-and-a-half, three years since.”
He passionately added that he’s betting on Toronto, and wants to create a better city for residents and families, including his own young children.
“We should be the best city in the world to raise a family, to build a business, to live your life. But too often it feels like instead of shooting for gold, we’re shooting for bronze, and then we’re happy if we come in fourth. That’s not how we win,” he stated.
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With his eyes on the prize, Bradford says he’s on a mission to make Toronto an A+ city, and currently gives Mayor Olivia Chow a less than ideal C-.
“For the past 10 years, we’ve experienced a decade of managed decline, of drift. We’ve had leaders that have tried to be all things, to all people, all the time,” he shared. “When everything’s a priority, nothing’s a priority, and we’ve spread ourselves a mile wide and an inch deep.”
He says the city isn’t moving in the right direction, adding that residents frequently contact him to share obstacles and issues they face in the city. Bradford says he believes that there’s a real desire for Toronto to be better, something he says he’s committed to if elected mayor.
“I think if we can get the basics right, then we can be a city that realizes our ambition. Then we can be a city that’s ready to build, that’s ready for new people to bring their time and their talent, their capital, to invest to build it here, a city for families.”
Current Mayor Olivia Chow hasn’t confirmed if she’s running in the next election and neither has former mayor John Tory, despite rumours of him planning to enter the race following his shocking resignation back in February 2023. Tory stepped down from the role after admitting to having an affair with a former staffer. He served as the city’s mayor from 2014-2023.
Bradford says he’s not worried about the potential competition.
“I wanted him (Tory) to be successful as mayor. I was happy to support him in that capacity. But I’m not looking backwards. And I don’t think most Torontonians are looking backwards.”
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A DISCONNECT BETWEEN CITY HALL AND TORONTONIANS
From safety concerns and transit delays to slow snow removal wait times and closing city pools during heatwaves, Bradford says Torontonians are facing inconveniences on a daily basis that erode their quality of life.
“The more I hear from people all across the city of Toronto, they feel like there’s a bit of a disconnect between the priorities of City Hall and the administration and the priorities in their day-to-day lives,” he said.
But changing that, Bradford says, starts from “the top.”
“Leadership is about empathy. Leadership is about listening and responding. And I don’t think we have a lot of that at City Hall right now.”
“If you don’t have leadership that’s focused on those things, we see that the ball gets dropped,” he said.
Bradford says Chow is not focused on the core services. He adds that it’s great she’s attending a lot of events and festivals in the city, but that “you have to balance that.”
“We obviously see her out there, and I think that’s great to be out there meeting people and being an ambassador, that’s super important. But you contrast that with time allocation and those core services, that feel worse than ever, seem to be slipping…” he said.
Bradford hasn’t been quiet about his disapproval with many of Chow’s decisions in the past. The councillor recently spoke out against the mayor’s backing of a new TTC safety pilot, which includes adding more community crisis workers to the transit system. In addition, late last year he called her out for removing him from his role as vice-chair to the City’s Planning and Housing Committee.
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BRADFORD’S PRIORITIES AS MAYOR
Although his official platform won’t be released until next year, Bradford says his top priorities will be addressing the safety and affordability concerns of Torontonians.
“(People) feel less safe than they used to feel. I think the indiscriminate nature of the violence and the crime that’s been taking place all across Toronto, it’s not one neighbourhood, and in fact, that’s really alarming. It is everywhere, all the time, and people don’t feel safe. They don’t feel safe riding on the TTC,” he said.
Bradford says Chow’s belief of hiring more customer service information agents, who are stationed at TTC stations and platforms, is not going to improve safety.
Fare evasion is another big issue for the TTC, and he says more Provincial Offences Officers are needed.
“I would invest in things that act as a deterrent, things that help capture that loss in fair revenue, and things that I think would actually make the TTC safer, not the sort of window dressing out on the street with the red smocks that don’t actually address any of the core issues that we’re facing on the TTC,” he said.
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His other big priority is safety. Bradford acknowledged the money the city and other levels of government have invested in working with youth and Neighbourhood Improvement Areas but questions how effective these programs are.
“I think we should be working with community leaders, with organizations embedded in the community that have the relationships with youth, that understand what they’re going through,” he explained.
“The city should leverage their relationships, their lived experiences in the community, flow the dollars to help support the good work that’s already taken place rather than trying to duplicate it internally with more bureaucracy,” he added.
As for next year’s campaign run, Bradford says he will be more prepared. He admits he didn’t have running for mayor on his 2023 bingo card, but it’s definitely on his 2026 agenda.
“I’ve spent the last two-and-a-half years going across all 630 kilometres of this city, listening to people. And you know what, when you listen to people, it’s actually not that hard. They will tell you their hopes and aspirations for the city. They’ll tell you the challenges, their frustrations and their ideas on how we can make it better.”
