What to know
- Brad Bradford lost the 2026 Toronto mayoral election to incumbent Olivia Chow, despite receiving more votes than former mayor John Tory in 2022.
- Chow won with 532,201 votes (54.2 per cent), while Bradford received 404,013 votes (41.1 per cent).
- At his concession speech at the Fairmont Royal York, Bradford congratulated Chow on her re-election and thanked his family, supporters and volunteers for their dedication throughout the campaign.
- Bradford acknowledged the challenges of defeating an incumbent, noting that no sitting Toronto mayor had ever been defeated in the city’s history.
- He praised volunteers for their tireless campaigning, including knocking on doors, making phone calls and visiting all 25 wards during the final week.
Brad Bradford lost the 2026 Toronto mayoral election to Olivia Chow, proving that sometimes, the second time is not the charm.
On Monday, Torontonians flocked to the polls, casting a total of 982,660 votes at 1,431 polling stations across the city’s 25 wards, resulting in a voter turnout of 45.8 per cent.
But despite receiving 404,013 votes — more than former mayor John Tory in 2022 — totalling 41.1 per cent of total votes, Bradford trailed behind Chow by nearly 14 per cent.
Chow received an impressive 532,201 votes, totalling 54.2 per cent of votes, which is nearly double the amount of votes (269,372) she received in the 2023 mayoral by-election against Tory.
The outgoing Beaches—East York city councillor of eight years held his concession speech at the Fairmont Royal York with his daughters, wife, and mother by his side.
After congratulating Chow on being re-elected as mayor, Bradford expressed his disappointment to the hundreds of equally crestfallen supporters in the room, admitting, “This was not the result we were hoping for tonight.”
“But I also have this feeling of immense gratitude for the opportunity to put our ideas forward; our vision of a better Toronto, the thing that we believe in,” he said to a chorus of “I love yous.”
“I know there were a lot of folks along the way who said it was long odds. An incumbent has never been defeated in Toronto’s history. They said it was challenging — maybe they were right.”
Bradford also thanked supporters for taking risks and betting on something different for the city, commending volunteers for their hard work campaigning day after day.
“You stood at subway stations at six in the morning. You knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors anyway,” he remarked.
“You made the phone calls. You put up the signs. When the signs got torn down, you put the signs back up. And in the last seven days, we went to all 25 wards. We were grinding it out on the road; we were out in the Bradwagon; we were having a blast.”
Bradford ended his speech with a walk down memory lane — reminiscing on his upbringing in Hamilton and how he felt taking the GO Train to Union Station for the first time — and a call to action to bring back Toronto’s reputation as “an aspirational destination for more of us.”
“I implore everybody in a leadership position here in Toronto to make sure we spend the days, weeks, months ahead bringing this city back together, healing this city, making sure this is a city that’s safe for everybody, and a city where nobody is left behind.”
