Windsor City Hall, December 2019. (Photo by Maureen Revait)Windsor City Hall, December 2019. (Photo by Maureen Revait)
Windsor

Who's running for mayor and council in Windsor, Amherstburg, Essex, and Kingsville?

First of a three-part series.

The 2022 Windsor-Essex municipal election campaign ends Monday.

Voters will choose mayors, deputy mayors, councillors and school board trustees to represent them over the next four years.

WindsorNewsToday.ca is presenting a summary of all candidates running, with the first part of the series focusing on candidates in Windsor, Amherstburg, Essex, and Kingsville.

Part two, set to go online Sunday, will discuss candidates in Lakeshore, LaSalle, Leamington, Pelee Island and Tecumseh. The third installment, on Monday, will examine the candidates for the four public school boards that serve the region.

All candidates listed here have been certified and listed on their municipalities' official websites as of Friday afternoon, meaning they all will appear on the ballot.

Windsor

Incumbent Mayor Drew Dilkens is up for a third four-year term. His biggest challenger is Ward 4 Councillor Chris Holt. Also running for mayor are Benjamin Danyluk, Aaron Day, Matthew Giancola, Ernie Lamont, and Louis Vaupotic.

On city council, all incumbents except two are running to keep their seats. Ward 3's Rino Bortolin has chosen not to run again, and Ward 4's Holt is running for mayor.

Ward 1's Fred Francis is in a two-person contest with Darcie Renaud.

Fabio Costante is going for a second term in Ward 2, and is being challenged by Myriam Faraj, Sam Romano, and Chris Soda.

Ward 3 is the most crowded race with nine candidates in an open contest. They are Renaldo Agostino, Katherine Cameron, Helmi Charif, Angela Fitzpatrick, Nick Kolasky, Kennedy Mangera, James McCarte, Cynthia Van Vrouwerff, and DWBIA chairman Brian Yeomans.

Ward 4 is open with eight people wanting to succeed Holt. Those candidates are former independent Windsor-Tecumseh MPP candidate Giovanni Abati, Edy Haddad, Gregory Heil, 2018 mayoral candidate Matt Marchand, former radio host Mark McKenzie, Jake Rondot, Kristen Siapas, and Patrick Sutherland.

Ward 5's Ed Sleiman wants another four years, with five challengers. They are Ken Acton, Caitlyn Desmarais, Alex Didone, Currie Soulliere, and Richard St. Denis.

In Ward 6, the longest active council member, Jo-Anne Gignac, wants another term. Also wanting her seat are Dylon Graves, Ashley Lafreniere, Brian D.H. McCurdy, Jeremy Renaud, and Beth St. Denis.

Jeewen Gill is seeking a term in his own right in Ward 7, after winning a byelection to succeed Irek Kusmierczyk, the current Windsor-Tecumseh MP. He is up against perennial candidate Angelo Marignani, along with former provincial New Blue Party candidate Sophia Sevo, Greg Lemay, and Sydney Brouillard-Coyle.

The race in Ward 8 is a rematch of sorts between two unsuccessful candidates for Windsor-Tecumseh MPP. They are council incumbent Gary Kaschak and challenger Gemma Grey-Hall.

In Ward 9, incumbent Kieran McKenzie is looking for a second term, challenged by Harinder Cheema and Dan Mokrzycki.

Incumbent Jim Morrison is in the Ward 10 contest with previous seatholder Paul Borrelli, who lost to Morrison in 2018. Also on the ballot are Wally Chafchak and Mark Masanovich.

Amherstburg

There will be a new mayor in historic Amherstburg, with two-term incumbent Aldo DiCarlo stepping away. There are four people wanting to succeed him, Frank Cerasa, John Laframboise, current councillor Michael Prue, and Bob Rozankovic.

Deputy Mayor Leo Meloche is not running again. Running to succeed him are Nancy Atkinson, Chris Gibb, Gregory Moore, Dennis Sanson, and Joe Shaw.

The five seats on town council are at-large, with incumbents Peter Courtney, Donald McArthur, Marc Renaud, and Patricia Simone running to keep their seats. The fifth incumbent, Prue, is running for mayor. There are twelve challengers running, Molly Allaire, Larry Amlin, Lucas Anderson, Andrew Argoselo, podcast host Linden Crain, Frank DiPasquale, retired police chief Bill Fryer, Tara Kearsey, Holger Krestchmann, former councillor Diane Pouget, Gary Theriault, and Lori Wightman.

Essex

It's a two-person race for mayor in Essex. Richard Meloche, who was appointed mayor earlier this year after the resignation of Larry Snively, is running for a four-year term of his own. Meloche is being challenged by long-time Ward 4 Councillor Sherry Bondy.

Deputy Mayor Steve Bjorkman is not seeking the seat for four more years. Former councillor Ron Rogers and Rob Shepley are vying for it.

For Ward 1 councillor, incumbents Morley Bowman and Joe Garon seek reelection. They are challenged by Katie McGuire-Blais and Glen Mills.

Incumbent Kim Verbeek is acclaimed for the single Ward 2 position.

In Ward 3, incumbent Chris Vander Doelen and recent appointee Jason Matyi want to keep their seats. They face challenger Brad Allard.

There were originally two people going after the Ward 4 seat being vacated by Bondy, Rodney Hammond and Shawn Mulder. Mulder announced earlier this month that he wanted to withdraw, but his name will remain on the ballot.

Kingsville

There will be a new mayor in Kingsville for the first time since 2003, with Nelson Santos resigning earlier this year to take an administrative job with another municipality.

Three candidates have filed to take Santos' place, including former councillor and deputy mayor Tamara Stomp, current councillor Laura Lucier, and businessman Dennis Rogers.

Gord Queen seeks another term as deputy mayor. Councillor Kimberly DeYong is seeking a promotion, and Samson Zad has also filed.

Voters will choose at least two new faces on the five-seat, at-large town council. Incumbents Tony Gaffan, Thomas Neufeld and Larry Patterson are up for re-election. There are 11 challengers. They are Scott Collier, Michael Del Ciancio, Willy Fittler, Michael Glass, Debby Jarvis-Chausse, Sherri Lowrie, Les McDonald, Tim Seech, Gideon Spivak, Brandon Stanley, and Barry Wilson.

WindsorNewsToday.ca will provide extensive coverage of the election results online and on social media Monday evening. Updates will also be provided on-air on MIX 96.7FM and Windsor’s Country 95.9 beginning when the polls close at 8 p.m.

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