B.C. election 2020: Lisa Beare projected to win Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows

BC NDP candidate Lisa Beare is projected to win the riding of Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows.

Beare, who served as tourism minister in the last NDP government, has so far earned over 62 per cent of the vote, beating out BC Liberal candidate Cheryl Ashlie.

Ashlie was the only other candidate running against Beare, earning 37.8 per cent of the vote.

Beare beat her BC Liberal predecessor, Doug Bing, by around 1,800 votes in 2017.

This time, the Liberals put forward Ashlie, a two-time Maple Ridge city councillor.

Beare used to be both a pilot and a flight attendant, and is a provincial wrestling champion.

She also served a school board trustee before jumping to provincial politics.

The BC Liberals were hoping to win this riding because it had been a close race three years ago.

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The district has a history of being a tight race, and the Liberals and NDP were within a thousand votes of each other in the 2005, 2009 and 2013 elections.

Since 1991, the New Democrats have won the seat five times and the Liberals, twice.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots were requested across B.C. this election. As mail-in ballots cannot be counted until after election night, these results are not final.