The race is on – officially.
When the nomination period for the Oct. 15 civic election closed at 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, 24 candidates had put their names forward to fill the 14 positions on city council and school board in New Westminster.
Three of those candidates will vie for the mayor’s seat, a role currently held by Jonathan Cote. He announced Jan. 1 that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election.
Ken Armstrong, a first-time candidate, will run for the New West Progressives; two-term city councillor Patrick Johnstone will run for Community First New West; and veteran councillor Chuck Puchmayr is an independent.
Puchmayr is one of only two candidates running in New Westminster who aren't supported by the city's two civic parties - Community First New West and the New West Progressives.
Twelve candidates are vying for six councillor seats. This includes six Community First New West candidates —Ruby Campbell, incumbent Chinu Das, Tasha Henderson, Bereket Kebede, incumbent Jaimie McEvoy and incumbent Nadine Nakagawa.
Five New West Progressives — karima budhwani, Rick Folka, Daniel Fontaine, Jiayi Li-McCarthy and Paul Minhas — are hoping to hoping to make a break-through on city council, after NWP candidates were shut out in 2018.
Daniel Ampong is the lone independent running for councillor.
Nine New West residents — including four incumbents — have put their names forward for the seven spots on the New Westminster school board.
Incumbent Danielle Connelly, the lone New West Progressives candidate elected in New Westminster in 2018, will be joined by fellow NWP candidates Kathleen Carlsen and Teo Dobre on the party’s school board slate.
Community First New West is fielding six candidates for school trustee — Marc Andres, incumbent Dee Beattie, incumbent Gurveen Dhaliwal, incumbent Maya Russell, Elliott Slinn and Cheryl Sluis.
Jacque Killawee, the city’s chief election officer, said no additional candidates can come forward at this time, and candidates can now only be challenged or withdraw.
