Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow announces bid for re-election
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TORONTO – Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow will be seeking a second term in this year’s municipal election, she announced Monday.
Chow said in a press release she plans to continue focusing on her work as mayor for the time being, with “plenty of time for campaigning in the fall.”
“There is more we can do to make Toronto more affordable, caring and safe. I registered today to say one thing to the people of our city: I’m in your corner,” she said.
The 69-year-old former NDP parliamentarian was elected in 2023 in a byelection after the resignation of former mayor John Tory. That election saw Chow become the first person of Asian descent to serve as Toronto’s mayor, and the first woman since the city’s six municipalities were amalgamated into one in 1998.
Chow’s political career has spanned four decades, from her election as a Toronto school board trustee in 1985 to a seat on city council for 14 years.
She also had an eight-year tenure in the House of Commons with her late husband and federal NDP leader Jack Layton starting in 2006. Chow resigned her seat in 2014 to run in Toronto’s mayoral race, placing third behind Tory and then-city councillor Doug Ford.
Chow is among sixteen candidates who have registered for Toronto’s 2026 mayoral race since the nomination period opened May 1. Tory announced last March that he won’t be running, while Toronto city Coun. Brad Bradford has already begun his own campaign for mayor.
“For three years, Torontonians have been told that traffic this bad, transit this unreliable, and a cost of living this punishing are just the way things are now,” Bradford said in a press release Monday. “The mayor has made her peace with less. I have not.”
Premier Doug Ford said he won’t be endorsing anyone for mayor, but said if Chow wins, he looks forward to continuing to work with her.
“I really like the mayor. I get along with everyone, I don’t care what political stripe they come from,” he said at an unrelated press conference Monday. “I know exactly where Olivia is coming from, she knows where I’m coming from. We get along very, very well.”
Mayoral candidates can expect heated campaigns focused on topics such as affordable housing, public transit and infrastructure.
In Toronto, there’s been fierce debate in recent weeks over proposed transit lines in the east end, the province’s push to take over city land to expand Billy Bishop airport and measures to address crime and high rent prices.
The municipal election is set for Oct. 26.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2026.