Hamilton’s longest serving City Councillor wishes to serve at least another 4 years at City Hall.
Tom Jackson registered Thursday for reelection, the final of the current 16 Councillors to register.
The Ward 6 (East Mountain) Councillor first won in the 1988 municipal election. Prior to being a Councillor, he operated his own franchise small business.
Two Mayoral Candidates, Two Retirements, One Death
Only two members of Council are planning to voluntarily retire from Council. Ward 13’s Russ Powers and Mayor Bob Bratina have been declared their intentions to retire.
Wards 1 and 9 are vacant as Brian McHattie and Brad Clark seek the Mayor’s chair.
Ward 3 is vacant due to the death of long-serving Councillor Bernie Morelli.
Incumbents Facing Challengers
Incumbents in Wards 4, 5, 6, 7, and 12 are unchallenged as of July 4th. There are still over two months for challengers to registered.
Elsewhere, Council incumbents are facing challenges – some from experienced candidates and others from first-time candidates.
I know of two potential candidates who cannot register yet due to their employment requiring them – by law – to take an unpaid leave of absence upon publicly declaring their candidate.
Nominations closed on September 12th.
The Pre-Labour Day Campaign Period
Thus far, candidates are wisely focusing on their fundraising and team-building in preparation for the full campaign that comes after Labour Day.
In Ward 3, two candidates – Mark Dimillo and Bob Assadourian are spending significant funds on their early campaign. It will be interesting to see how this early investment plays for them in the fall.
As we inch closer to Labour Day, expect more candidates to register and for candidates to start staking out positions on the record.
It should be an exciting summer to see who decides to run.