Winnipeg Alive! · Guide

Winnipeg Votes 2026

The civic election is Wednesday, October 28 — and advance voting is already open. Twelve people want to be mayor, 54 are running for council, and every school board seat in the city is on the ballot. Here’s the whole thing, ward by ward. 12 mayoral candidates · 54 council candidates · 15 council wards · 6 school divisions

Polls open Oct 28, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. Advance voting runs to Fri, Oct 23. The short version

Three races on your ballot

Most Winnipeg voters make three choices on October 28. Winners serve a four-year term — the new council takes office at its inaugural meeting on November 3.

City-wide · pick 1 of 12

Mayor

Every voter in Winnipeg votes for mayor. Incumbent Scott Gillingham is seeking a second term against 11 challengers, led by former councillor and provincial cabinet minister Kevin Klein. The last sitting Winnipeg mayor to lose on election night was in 1956.

Your ward · pick 1

City Councillor

One councillor per ward across 15 wards. Ten incumbents are running again; five seats are wide open — Fort Rouge–East Fort Garry, River Heights–Fort Garry, St. Norbert–Seine River, St. Vital and Waverley West — so at least a third of council will be new faces.

Your division · pick 1 or more

School Trustee

Trustees run the city’s six school divisions — budgets, catchment boundaries, school facilities. These races get the least attention and are often the closest. A few seats have already been acclaimed; the rest are contested, some with a dozen names on the ballot.

Mark it down

Key dates

Mon, Oct 5

Advance voting opens

City Hall (Council Building, 2nd floor, 510 Main St.) opens for advance voting, with pop-up locations rotating through malls and venues across the city in the weeks that follow.

Mon Oct 19 – Thu Oct 22

Community advance polls in all 15 wards — happening now

For four days, every council ward has its own community advance voting location — and during advance voting you can use any location in the city, not just your own ward’s. Election staff are also visiting hospitals, care homes, campuses and other facilities.

Fri, Oct 23 · 4 p.m.

Advance voting ends

Last call at City Hall and all advance locations. In 2022, a record 41,895 Winnipeggers voted early; this year the city is running 174 advance locations.

Sun, Oct 25 · 4:30 p.m.

Mail ballot application deadline

Last chance to apply for a sealed-envelope (mail) ballot. Completed ballots must be back at the Susan A. Thompson Building, 510 Main St., by Mon, Oct 26 at 8 p.m. — they can’t be dropped off at a voting location.

Wed, Oct 28 · 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Election Day

Vote at any voting location within your own council ward — new digital poll books make that possible this year. Results are officially declared the next day, Thursday, October 29.

Tue, Nov 3 · 6 p.m.

New council sworn in

The 2026–2030 term begins with the inaugural council meeting at City Hall.

Logistics

How to vote

You don’t have to wait for October 28 — but the rules change depending on when you go. Advance voters can use any location in the city; on Election Day you must vote in your own ward.

Vote early — on now

Advance voting runs October 5–23. Any eligible voter can use any advance location, no matter where you live. City Hall is open weekdays (closed Thanksgiving, Oct 12); Thursday, Oct 22 has extended hours, 8 a.m.–8 p.m.

| Dates | Locations | |---|---| | Oct 5–23 | City Hall — Council Building, 2nd Floor, 510 Main Street | | Oct 6–8 | Canada Life Centre — 300 Portage Avenue | | Oct 9–11 | Kildonan Place (1555 Regent Ave. W.) · Garden City (2305 McPhillips St.) · IKEA (500 Sterling Lyon Pkwy.) | | Oct 16–18 | Grant Park (1120 Grant Ave.) · CF Polo Park (1485 Portage Ave.) · St. Vital Centre (1225 St. Mary’s Rd.) | | Oct 19–22 | Community advance locations in all 15 council wards |

Election Day — Wed, Oct 28

Polls are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are 184 voting sites, and thanks to new digital poll books you can vote at any location within your council ward — not just one assigned poll. Not sure of your ward? Check the city’s voter lookup before you go.

Vote by mail

Apply for a sealed-envelope ballot by Sun, Oct 25 at 4:30 p.m. Return it to the Susan A. Thompson Building, 510 Main St., by Mon, Oct 26 at 8 p.m. Mail ballots are not accepted at voting locations.

Who can vote

• Canadian citizen, and 18 or older on October 28

• A resident of Winnipeg — or a property owner in the city — since April 28, 2026

• For school trustee: you must actually live in the school division — owning property there isn’t enough

At the polls — bring this

• One government-issued photo ID showing your name and current address — a driver’s licence does both — ortwo authorized pieces of ID that together show your name and current address

• Your ward and division — look them up in advance; your councillor and trustee races depend on them

• Your picks — phones are fine; a note with your three choices beats deciding cold in the booth

• A few minutes — in 2022, advance voters were 41,895 strong; mid-morning and mid-afternoon are the quiet windows on Election Day

What’s new in 2026

• Digital poll books replace the paper voters lists at every site — staff can confirm eligibility instantly, and there are more than 533,000 names on the voters list

• Vote anywhere in your ward on Election Day, not at a single assigned poll

• Four days of community advance voting in every ward, up from three in past elections

• School trustee candidates must now register their campaigns, with limits on raising and spending — a first for trustee races

Not sure where you stand?

The City of Winnipeg’s official election site — winnipeg.ca/election2026 — has the address-based lookup for your ward, your voting locations and the official candidate list. Check your registration before Oct 28; you can still be added at the poll with ID if you’re eligible.

The main event

The mayor’s race

Twelve names on the ballot — fifteen people registered at some point, but only twelve completed the nomination process by the September 22 deadline. Two polls bookend the campaign: Probe Research had the incumbent far out front in mid-September, and the final poll of the race — Abacus Data, conducted in the last full week before the vote — shows a tighter contest. Different pollster, though, so read the shift directionally, not as a precise drop.

Where the race stands

Abacus Data, October 16–22, 2026 · share of decided voters · n = 685

• Scott Gillingham (incumbent mayor) — 36%
• Kevin Klein (former councillor & minister) — 19%
• Mike Vogiatzakis (funeral director) — 14%
• Noah Redden (software developer) — 14%
• Everyone else (eight candidates) — the remainder, split among the rest of the field

The mood numbers cut both ways: 58% of Winnipeggers say it's definitely or probably time for a new mayor, and only about a third say Gillingham deserves a second term — yet 52% still expect him to be re-elected. For comparison, Probe Research in mid-September (n = 600) had Gillingham at 55% and Klein at 23% among decided voters; a different pollster with a different method, so the two polls can't simply be subtracted from each other. Treat both as snapshots, not forecasts. Incumbent

Scott Gillingham

Mayor since 2022

First elected mayor in 2022 after eight years as St. James councillor. Running on his record and a fall rollout of pledges on housing, recreation funding and conservation — including restoring the fall street-cleaning program suspended in 2015, at a cost of under $2 million.

Kevin Klein

The leading challenger

Charleswood–Tuxedo–Westwood councillor 2018–2022, then MLA for Kirkfield Park and provincial environment minister in 2023. His campaign has centred on the police headquarters scandal, and he has promised fully enclosed safety shields for transit drivers fleet-wide within two years.

Mike Vogiatzakis

Funeral director

Director of Voyage Funeral Homes. Calls the new transit network a failure and would restore a route system “that works,” add transit police, shelter cameras and lighting at stops. Registered for mayor once before, in 2014, but didn’t make that ballot.

Mazher Alam

Newcomer

A first-time candidate running a back-to-basics campaign: fix the potholes, halt property-tax increases and reverse water rate hikes.

Johnny Calderon

Creator & comedian

Online content creator, comedian and entertainer bringing an outsider’s pitch to the race — he polled around 2% among decided voters in September's Probe survey.

Chris Clacio

Grocery clerk

Ran for mayor in 2022 and is back as a self-described progressive candidate.

Tracey Drexler

Safety-plan candidate

Pledging no property-tax increases and a “Living Well Community Safety Plan” built on the argument that crime, addiction and homelessness are one problem, not three: “Nobody should be sleeping on the streets in Winnipeg when it’s minus 40.”

Brad Gross

Realtor

Back after a run for mayor in 2010. Pledges to end city investment in bike lanes and put security cameras in bus shelters.

Umar Hayat

Real estate agent

Ran for mayor in 2018 and for the Manitoba Liberals in McPhillips in the 2023 provincial election.

Joshua Pagdato

Youth advocate

Runs Protect the Kids Canada, a community group centred on youth advocacy. His entry in May made him the seventh candidate in what became a twelve-name field.

Noah Redden

Software developer

The youngest-skewing campaign in the field — and the campaign's late story: tied for third at 14% in the final Abacus poll, up from 4% in September, ahead of eight rivals with longer political résumés.

Don Woodstock

JamRock Security founder

Third run for mayor: fourth in 2018, ninth in 2022. This time he’s promising to waive permit fees for long-established parades and street festivals.

The one that got away

Fifteen people registered to run for mayor at some point in 2026 — but registering isn’t the same as making the ballot. Among those who didn’t complete the nomination: experimental filmmaker Ed Ackerman, a genuine Winnipeg original whose registration in September raised eyebrows in the local arts scene before he fell off the final list of twelve. Electrician Zac Uminski, an early registrant, also didn’t make the cut.

Your neighbourhood’s race

All 15 ward races

Fifty-four candidates, fifteen seats. Search by ward or candidate name, or filter to just the open seats — those are the races where the outcome is genuinely up for grabs. A gold asterisk marks the sitting councillor.

Charleswood–Tuxedo–Westwood

Incumbent running

• Dennis Bayomi

• Evan Duncan *

Mayoral candidate Kevin Klein’s old ward — Klein held this seat 2018–2022 before going provincial. Duncan, first elected in 2022, faces one challenger.

Daniel McIntyre

Incumbent running

• Cindy Gilroy *

• Fred Morris

Gilroy, first elected in 2014, is seeking a fourth term in this west-end ward.

Elmwood–East Kildonan

Incumbent running

• Adam Dudek

• Emma Durand-Wood *

• Abel Gutierrez

• Chris Sweryda

• Jessica Wiebe

Durand-Wood won this seat in the October 2025 by-election after the death of longtime councillor Jason Schreyer — beating Gutierrez, who is running again, along with three others.

Fort Rouge–East Fort Garry

Open seat

• Brook Jones

• Carson Mauthe

• Jeff Palmer

• Kevin Stuart

Sherri Rollins filed to run again, then withdrew — citing frustration with the mayor’s office. Four newcomers contest the vacancy.

Mynarski

Incumbent running

• Harold Brazil

• Ross Eadie *

• Laurie Kozak

• Ayaz Noor Mohammed

• Natalie Smith

• Terry Wachniak

The most crowded council race in the city: six names. Eadie, on council since 2010, faces five challengers — including Terry Wachniak, who held this very ward from 1986 to 1989.

North Kildonan

Incumbent running

• Tyler Andersen

• Jeff Browaty *

• Orvie Dingwall

Browaty, one of council’s longest-serving members, defends against two challengers.

Old Kildonan

Incumbent running

• Greg McFarlane

• Love Randhawa

• Devi Sharma *

Sharma was acclaimed in 2022 with no opposition; this time she has two challengers as she seeks a fifth term.

Point Douglas

Incumbent running

• Mark Requinta

• Vivian Santos *

A head-to-head: Santos, first elected in 2018, against a single challenger in the city’s smallest ward race.

River Heights–Fort Garry

Open seat

• Sara MacArthur

• Jorge Requena Ramos

• Georgina Sabesky

John Orlikow is retiring after six terms — 17 years representing this ward. Three candidates are vying to succeed him.

St. Boniface

Incumbent running

• Matt Allard *

• Nicholas Douklias

• Sylvie Schmitt

• Robyn Vilde

Allard defends the French Quarter ward against three challengers.

St. James

Incumbent running

• Tyler Crichton

• Shawn Dobson *

• Kelly Ryback

A rematch element: Ryback finished 1,187 votes behind Dobson in 2022 and is back for another run at the seat — Gillingham’s former ward before he became mayor.

St. Norbert–Seine River

Open seat

• Ray DuBois

• Louise May

• Anita Roy

• Govind Thawani

Markus Chambers, acclaimed in 2022, is stepping down for personal and family health reasons. Four newcomers are in.

St. Vital

Open seat

• Season Kirkwood

• Doug Reimer

• Chris Sigurdson

Brian Mayes is leaving council after nearly 15 years — he cited difficulty working with the mayor among his reasons. He hasn’t left the ballot entirely, though: see the Louis Riel trustee race below.

Transcona

Incumbent running

• Nathine Dagdick

• Chris Giesbrecht

• Lora Meseman

• Shawn Nason

• Russ Wyatt *

Wyatt was the last incumbent to confirm he’s running. He is facing sexual-assault charges laid earlier this year, maintains his innocence, and has kept attending council — a story that has shadowed this race. Nason held this seat for one term before losing it to Wyatt in 2022.

Waverley West

Open seat

• Antar Banik

• Jasmine Brar

• Yuanchao Li

• Nafiya Naso

• Uche Nwankwo

Janice Lukes is retiring after three terms, having seen through the ward’s new recreation centre. Five candidates — the joint-largest open-seat field in the city. The other ballot

School trustees

Six divisions, dozens of seats — and historically the lowest turnout of the three races. Some wards elect more than one trustee. Seats marked acclaimed had only enough candidates to fill them, so those trustees are already in. New this year: trustee candidates had to register their campaigns and live under spending limits, like council candidates.

A familiar name in Louis Riel Ward 2

St. Vital councillor Brian Mayes is leaving City Hall — but his name is still on a ballot: he’s running for school trustee in Louis Riel School Division Ward 2, against Lauren Lambert and Irene Nordheim. If you’re in St. Vital, your council seat is open and your outgoing councillor is asking for a different job on the same ballot.

What they’re fighting about

The issues in one pass

Six themes have dominated the campaign — in the debates, the forums and the door-knocking.

Safety — and transit safety first

The first mayoral debate, hosted by the transit union, was all about driver safety. Klein wants full-height driver shields across the fleet within two years, starting with a nine-bus pilot. Vogiatzakis wants transit police, cameras and lit shelters. The new transit network itself is on trial: Vogiatzakis calls it a failure; Gillingham defends the redesign.

Potholes, roads and the basics

Alam’s whole pitch is potholes, tax freezes and water rates. Gillingham has promised to restore the fall street-cleaning program cut in 2015 (under $2M) to stop spring-runoff drain clogs. Unglamorous, but it’s what doorsteps talk about.

Property taxes

Drexler pledges no property-tax increases, period; Alam would halt them and reverse water-rate hikes. The incumbent’s camp counters that freezes mean service cuts — the oldest argument in Winnipeg politics, back for another round.

Homelessness and encampments

Drexler’s Living Well plan treats crime, addiction and homelessness as a single file and argues criminalizing poverty costs more than housing people. Encampments and downtown safety have been a running sore point for the incumbent administration all term.

Growth, housing and permitting

The real-estate and development sector is pressing all candidates on housing supply, serviced land, water and sewer capacity, and faster permitting. Gillingham has leaned into housing and recreation-funding pledges through the fall; challengers say the city still builds too slowly.

The police headquarters scandal

The long shadow over the race. Klein has made the police HQ saga his central attack on the incumbent’s leadership — and in September accused the Gillingham campaign of misrepresenting his old newspaper columns, which it had flagged as altered online. Expect it in every debate clip you see this week.

Sources & official information

• City of Winnipeg — 2026 Election (official) — voter lookup, voting locations, official candidate list

• City of Winnipeg — Advance voting begins Monday, October 5

• City of Winnipeg — Planning to advance vote? 5 things you need to know

• Wikipedia — 2026 Winnipeg municipal election — candidate tables, Probe Research poll (Sept 14, 2026)

• Access Winnipeg — full candidate list (Sept 30, 2026)

• Candidate reporting: CBC News Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Free Press, May–October 2026

• Winnipeg Free Press, October 23, 2026 — Abacus Data poll of 685 Winnipeg residents, October 16–22, 2026

This guide was compiled October 19, 2026, from the sources above; polling updated October 24, 2026. Candidate lists reflect the final nominations confirmed after the September 22, 2026 deadline. Winnipeg Alive! doesn’t endorse candidates — we just think you should vote. When in doubt, the City’s official election site is the final word.