Going into the 2024 B.C. election Nathan Cullen had never lost an election in either the federal or provincial arena but that all changed Oct. 19 as Conservative Sharon Hartwell upset the incumbent NDP cabinet minister.
Black Press called the race for Hartwell at 9:30 p.m. election night with 25 of 29 ballot boxes counted and Hartwell ahead by more than 1,000 votes. By the time the final tally was known Sunday morning, Hartwell had 4,875 votes to Cullen's 3,602.
"I'm pretty excited and overwhelmed by the support we've had, it's just been absolutely amazing," Hartwell said at her campaign headquarters in Smithers.
She came up short of saying she was surprised by the result but called it "hopeful."
"The conversations at the door, people were asking for change, so we were trying to provide that. We were hopeful, but you don't take anything for granted, but this is my home. People here, they know me, so this is very personal."
Speaking to supporters at his headquarters in Smithers, Cullen was gracious in defeat.
"I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning with no regrets," he said. "We ran this campaign with grace and dignity."
The Christian Heritage Party's Rod Taylor garnered 236 votes while Gamlakyeltxw (William Marsden) picked up 588 for the Green Party.
Prior to turning to provincial politics, Hartwell served a term and a half as a Telkwa village councillor before becoming mayor of Telkwa for 12 years during which she championed the interests of small and rural communities.
During her time as mayor she represented small communities provincially as the Small Community Representative at UBCM; served as the chair of the North West Regional Hospital District; was elected a member of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and served as vice-chair of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Since the riding was created in 1991, it has been held by the NDP except for the period from 2001-2009 when Liberal Dennis MacKay was the representative.
On election day polls had Cullen as the heavy favourite to win the riding.
Provincially, the election was too close to call with the NDP leading or elected in 46 ridings to the Conservative's 45 when Elections BC announced the preliminary count was complete. Hand-counting of the ballots will take place Oct. 26 - 28, after which all the MLA-elects will be officially declared elected.
Two key ridings – Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre – will undergo official recounts because the New Democrat and Conservative candidates are separated by less than 100 votes.
