The people of Barrie have voted, and it appears Jeff Lehman will be mayor for four more years.
While official results won’t be released until later this week, unofficial results on the city’s website show incumbent Lehman claimed 90.97 per cent of the vote in the 2018 election.
Once the results are finalized, Lehman will be officially elected to his third term as Barrie’s mayor.
According to the results, Lehman beat out his only opponent, local business owner Ram Faerber.
Faerber collected 9.03 per cent of the vote on Monday, not enough to unseat Lehman.
Faerber ran against the mayor in the 2014 municipal election before running as an independent in both the 2015 federal and 2018 provincial elections.
Lehman began his career in municipal politics in 2006, when he was elected as councillor for Ward 2 on Barrie’s city council.
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During the 2010 municipal election, Lehman ran for mayor and was elected after claiming 39 per cent of the vote. Lehman succeeded David Aspden, who served one term as Barrie’s mayor.
Lehman was re-elected in 2014 in a landslide victory, collecting more than 90 per cent of the vote during the municipal election.
In March, Lehman announced his intention to run again for the city’s top spot, despite rumors that he may leave municipal politics to pursue a federal seat.
However, Lehman insisted there was work left to do in the municipality.
During the 2018 race, the incumbent mayor campaigned in favour of a “strong economy, strong society and strong neighbourhoods.”
Once the election results are finalized, Lehman will work to make those campaign promises a reality with the help of four returning city council members and six newcomers.
The city of Barrie will be releasing official election results later this week.
The newly elected Barrie city council will be sworn in on Dec. 1.
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