Crowded council race takes shape in Kelowna

Colin Dacre - Sep 11, 2026 / 5:47 pm | Story: 631024

A total of 46 people have stepped forward to run for office in next month’s municipal elections in Kelowna.

Nominations closed as of 4 p.m. on Friday. However, those who have been nominated will have one week to back out, with withdrawals allowed until 4 p.m. on Sept. 18.

There are three people running for mayor, 37 seeking a councillor’s chair and six running for the Central Okanagan school board.

There is, of course, only one mayor’s job. A total of eight council seats are up for grabs along with four trustee roles in the Kelowna zone.

Castanet and Revelry are hosting three forums Sept. 16, Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, featuring up to 21 council candidates spread across the three evenings to help voters decide where to place their vote.

While upwards of 60 people picked up nomination paperwork at city hall, a significant portion of candidates did not follow through on their interest.

The 37 council candidates in the race falls short of the 40 who ran for a seat, the current record, in 2011.

With current city council members Charlie Hodge, Luke Stack and Loyal Wooldridge not seeking re-election and Coun. Ron Cannan running for mayor, there are four guaranteed vacancies around the council table this cycle.

The full list of candidates is below:

Candidates for Mayor:

• Ron Cannan

• Tom Dyas

• Andrew Uitvlugt

Candidates for Councillor:

• Susan Ames

• Les Bellamy

• Chris Bocskei

• Doris Bregolisse

• Nikki Csek

• Greg Dahms

• Todd Daniels

• Maxine DeHart

• Indy Dhial

• Crystal Dougan

• Tim Down

• Julia Fraser

• Daniel Fritter

• Bal Grewal

• King James

• Hamid Khajavi

• Kevin Kraft

• Davis Kyle

• Gord Lovegrove

• Teresa May

• Trevor McAleese

• Randy Millis

• H. Morales

• Brian Pinter

• JC Rathwell

• Brady Rogers

• Brian Rogers

• Mike Rose

• Todd Sanderson

• Corey Severin

• Mohini Singh

• Glendon Smedley

• Silverado Socrates

• Laura Thurnheer

• Lee-Ann Tiede

• Rick Webber

• Rob Wilkinson

Candidates for School District No. 23 Board of Education School Trustee:

• Joyce Brinkerhoff

• Deb Dickerson-Pogue

• Richard Gauthier

• Val Johnson

• Jim Strachan

• Ashok Kumar Verma

By: Castanet; Colin Dacre

Source: Crowded council race takes shape in Kelowna - Castanet.net