THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay will be represented once again by two Liberal members of parliament as a result of the 2019 federal election.
Patty Hajdu, seeking her second term in the House of Commons in Thunder Bay-Superior North, stormed ahead of Conservative challenger Frank Pullia and NDP candidate Anna Betty Achneepineskum as ballots were counted.
Networks declared her the winner well before all the results were in.
As ballot-counting continued, by 1:34 a.m.Tuesday, Hajdu had about 17,300 votes, a margin of almost 7,000 votes over Pullia, with Achneepineskum in third place after 99 per cent of the polls had reported their results.
Voters in Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding had to wait longer than their counterparts to learn the election results there, as polls in the riding closed an hour later.
At 2:02 a.m., Marcus Powlowski of the Liberals had 14,336 votes, roughly a 2,300 vote lead over Linda Rydholm of the Conservative party, with Yuk-Sem Won of the NDP, fewer than 300 votes behind, after 99 per cent of the polls had reported.
In Kenora, three candidates were in a tight race for much of Monday evening, before Conservative Eric Melillo, running in his first election, took the lead and gradually pulled away.
Melillo, a recent graduate of Lakehead University, is 21 years old.
By 2:02 a.m. Tuesday, he had 9,300 votes, more than 1,100 votes more than incumbent Liberal Bob Nault, with the NDP's Rudy Turtle not far behind, after 99 per cent of polls had reported.
In Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, which includes the communities of White River, NDP incumbent Carol Hughes easily won re-election, building up a lead of 5,700 votes at 1:34 a.m. over Conservative Dave Williamson with 98 per cent of the polls reporting.
