‘An honour and a joy’: Rachael Thomas wins Lethbridge riding for a fourth time

Locally, tens of thousands of voters turned out to be heard in the federal election. Here's a look at how it played out for Lethbridge and the area.

Conservative candidate Rachael Thomas was once again elected to represent the Lethbridge riding.

On election night, she and about 100 supporters gathered at the Paradise Canyon Golf Resort.

Despite the result not being a shocking one, she’s still grateful for the support she received.

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“The local victory, of course, is super exciting. You know, to have the opportunity to represent Lethbridge for a fourth term is ultimately just such an honour and a joy,” said Thomas.

Thomas won with just over 60 per cent of the vote, making it one of her larger election wins.

Liberal candidate Chris Spearman, a former mayor of Lethbridge, came in second with about 33 per cent.

The NDP’s Nathan Svoboda finished in a distant third.

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Spearman is disappointed with his loss but is happy with the race he ran.

“On the whole, we had very good reception at the doors. We had a lot of people thanking me for running and making it an interesting contest and interesting discussion. I think people had hoped that things could change, that we would have an elected representative who would be heard in Ottawa,” said Spearman.

Even with the loss, Spearman’s vote share was historically high.

Since 1945, a non-Conservative candidate had only managed to get more than 30 per cent of the vote three times in Lethbridge.

“Incumbency and being a Conservative politician in southern Alberta tend to be a pretty winning recipe. I actually think Mr. Spearman did quite well,” said Lars Hallstrom, a University of Lethbridge professor of political science.

“Historically, people tend to, if they’re not voting Conservative, they go further to the left in this region.”

Thomas will once again represent the official opposition against a minority Liberal government.

One of the chief concerns of voters in this election is how the new government will be able to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Lethbridge is believed to be one of the communities that would be most affected by American tariffs. But a minority government may not be ideal for dealing with those challenges.

“Internationally, I guess the one negative thing is that going into negotiations with the United States ... it would be nice to have a very strong government that doesn’t have to keep going back to find if it has support on things,” said political scientist Trevor Harrison.