The frontrunners in the Winnipeg mayoral race made their final pitches to voters. On the last day of the campaign trail Tuesday, incumbent Scott Gillingham visited all 15 city wards. “Stopping by local businesses and just getting out to see the people across the City of Winnipeg,” Gillingham said. Gillingham said he’s telling residents that while Winnipeg has problems, there’s a lot of good going on. “My final pitch is that the other opponents in this race have spoken very negatively about Winnipeg, and their view is really kind of tear it down, start over, start fresh,” Gillingham said. But Gillingham has been negative towards candidate Kevin Klein in this campaign, who hosted one last news conference. “I want to talk about the turning point that Winnipeg sits in right now,” Klein said Tuesday. Klein is cautioning voters. With 12 candidates in the race, he said vote splitting is a possibility. He’s asking them to vote strategically if they want change. “Better days are ahead with changes that make sense, and I am the only candidate who can defeat Scott Gillingham tomorrow,” Klein said. Noah Redden is getting a lot of attention in the home stretch of the campaign. “The last few days have seen a really dramatic increase in support, I think,” Redden said. The 27-year-old, relatively unknown before the race, greeted people in The Exchange and visited businesses. He’s received a last-minute endorsement from former mayor and 2022 mayoral candidate Glen Murray. “That was really neat to hear,” Redden said. “I mean you know he is the former mayor, and I think he did a pretty respectable job.” Mike Vogiatzakis hosted an event in Kildonan Park for his volunteers. “A little nervous, you know, a little eerie, feeling good,” Vogiatzakis said. The funeral homeowner, who decided to run for mayor after his brother was killed, met with voters and businesses. “That’s what I’ve been doing today is campaigning, but not campaigning trying to get votes, campaigning trying to see what we can do to bring this city back to life again,” Vogiatzakis said. The other eight candidates for mayor are Johnny Calderon, Umar Hayat, Tracey Drexler, Don Woodstock, Chris Clacio, Brad Gross, Joshua Pagdato and Mazher Alam. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
