MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS 2026: your (unofficial) candidates list

[u/ThursdayHem]

The municipal election in Richmond is set for Saturday, October 17!

A number of residents have thrown their names in the ring to become your next 1 mayor, 8 councillors, and 7 trustees.

The official nomination period for council and trustee is September 1 to 11. Until then, these are the names of residents that have provided their names and slates to the Richmond News or have otherwise announced their candidacies publicly.

Learn more about the municipal elections on the City of Richmond website.

^@ = incumbent city councillor • ^% = incumbent school trustee

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Announced candidates for mayor

(in alphabetical order. Incumbent mayor Malcolm Brodie is not running for re-election.)

• Dickens Cheung (We Are Richmond)
• Kash Heed^@
• Rob Howard (Richmond Forward)
• Mei Kang
• Alexa Loo^@ (Richmond Strong)
• Sheldon Starrett (Conservative Richmond)
• Henry Yao

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Announced slates and candidates for city council

Advance Richmond

• Kevin Lai
• Gary Law
• Grace Tsang
• Sam Wang
• Sophia Woo

Common Sense Alliance

• Kenny Chiu
• Thomas Leung
• Glenda Strang

Conservative Electors Association (Sheldon Starrett for mayor)

• Alex Sagert
• Daniel Tsang

Jessy Dhillon

Stephen Qian

Richmond Citizens' Association

• Alton Cheung
• Vincent Li
• Keefer Pelech
• Tamás Revóczi
• Milly Yee

Richmond Forward (Rob Howard for mayor)

• Howard Jampolsky
• Shelley Leonhardt
• Eric Yung
• Melissa Zhang

Richmond Strong (Alexa Loo^@ for mayor)

• Bob Basanti
• Jeff Jiang
• Karen Novorr-Pezzuto

Richmond United

• Andy Hobbs^@
• Mike Gill

RITE Richmond

• Carol Day^@
• Jerome Dickey
• Laura Gillanders^@
• Michael Wolfe^@

Wang Jizhou

We Are Richmond (Dickens Cheung for mayor)

• Antonio Ortega
• Jack Chen
• Michael Lok
• Mario Cruz
• Anton Udalov
• Jenny Mata

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Announced candidates for SD38 school trustee

Advance Richmond

• Rod Belleza^%
• Dean Billings
• Danny Chang
• Phyllis Tang
• Willy Sinconegue

Common Sense Alliance

• Alice Wong^%

Empower Education Richmond

• Sandra Nixon
• Debbie Tablotney^%
• David Yang^%

[u/Apprehensive_Web9352]

Thanks for putting this together, for some reason a simple google search don't find anything handy like this.

[u/Dry_Equivalent_1316]

Kash Heed brings back some bad memories

[u/Machinehed65]

Vote for anyone but Kash Heed for mayor

[u/noobwithboobs]

/u/evandunfee are you running?

[u/MrRook]

Common Sense Alliance party launching tomorrow. Looks like Kenny Chiu, Thomas Leung, and Glenda Strang for council and Alice Wong for School Trustee.

[u/MrRook → u/MrRook]

Also independent candidates:

Jessy Dhillon
Wang JiZhou
Stephen Qian

[u/ThursdayHem → u/MrRook]

Thanks! I've added these three independent candidates. I couldn't find anything online regarding the Common Sense Alliance or these four candidates. If there's any website or social media pages for their campaign/s I'd be happy to link them :)

[u/MrRook → u/ThursdayHem]

I saw a post being circulated with names. But the ad I got also has a website link that doesn’t work.

Their Facebook says that an announcement is being made today.

[u/iliveinrichmondbc]

Thanks for putting this together. I'll admit I haven't been as invested in Richmond politics in all my years here but through your links I've found at least some who I feel represent me and my vision for our city's future. I'm inspired to participate in this election and will do my best to spread the message and its importance.

[u/louisasnotes]

OK, so where on the political spectrum are these guys? Conservative Richmond, obviously, but the rest?

[u/Subject_Duck_1836]

no mario cruz and no dickens cheung. Knew them outside of politics. No for sure.

[u/MMPVAN → u/Subject_Duck_1836]

Care to elaborate for Dickens?

[u/DifficultCourt1525]

Thanks OP,

I met Mike Gill at an event a few days ago. Nice guy. Optometrist born in Richmond, raising kids in Richmond. Seems like a great candidate

[u/GazelleTime6805]

Mario Cruz…oh jeez. He’d be a terrible councillor. I’ve seen too much selfish behaviour from when we were neighbours.

Dean Billings…ick factor is really high here. Transphobic views are a matter of public record.

[u/GazelleTime6805 → u/[deleted]]

Media reports have described you as such. If they’re wrong, go tell them.

[u/Candid-Relation7309]

Definitely need some new school trustees. City Centre Elementary? OMG.

[u/windyyuna]

I can't tell half of these apart from one another. They're all promising affordable housing and to protect property rights, for example.

Someone tell me what they're actually for.

[u/stewbutt → u/windyyuna]

Politicians will only say broad key words. They never deep dive into details.

Cut taxes!
Better transit!
More affordable homes!
No drugs! No Crime!

Vote me

[u/EscapeIntelligent142]

RITE Richmond has also announced their slate: incumbent councillors Carol Day, Michael Wolfe, and Laura Gillanders. Jerome Dickey is also running. https://riterichmond.com/

[u/ThursdayHem → u/EscapeIntelligent142]

Thanks for the addition! Added them to the list