Alberta United Conservative Party candidate Nathan Neudorf has been declared the winner of Lethbridge-East.
Neudorf defeated the NDP incumbent Maria Fitzpatrick, receiving more than 6,400 votes as of 10:10 p.m. on Tuesday, with 79 of 93 polls reporting.
“It’s incredible after all the work we put in. It’s a sense of relief and gratitude for my whole team,” Neudorf said. “We’ve got such a huge group of supporters and volunteers and staff and help. It was really a team effort and really satisfying.”
The UCP candidate also beat out Devon Hargreaves of the Alberta Liberals, the Alberta Party’s Ally Taylor and John McCanna of the Alberta Independence Party.
This is Neudorf’s first election to public office.
“My first priority is going to be building bridges,” he said. “I really know that Lethbridge is diverse and I want to reach out to key players and school districts, the college, the city, the hospital… make sure that we move forward together because we really want to build a solid community that’s untied and not divided.”
READ MORE: Alberta NDP’s Shannon Phillips re-elected in Lethbridge-West
Neudorf is the second conservative candidate to win the riding since 1993 and said he’s excited to start work in a majority UCP government.
“I think it allows governments to move forward with confidence, I think it allows them to move with a mandate and I think it allows them time to communicate with their supporters,” he said.
WATCH: NDP incumbent Maria Fitzpatrick loses Lethbridge-East
Incumbent Maria Fitzpatrick fell short in the race and was full of emotion as she met with supporters Tuesday night.
“I’m so proud of our government and the things that we accomplished,” she said. “I’m so proud of the things that I was able to do – to step up to support the legislation that we moved forward. I’m just full of emotion as I think back over the last four years,” she said.
Fitzpatrick added that she’s not sure what else she could’ve done on the campaign trail to hold the seat and reflected on her four years in Edmonton.
“To be able to do work on the domestic violence file was a file that’s near and dear to my heart. I’m so pleased about the things that we’ve done on the environment.”