UPDATE: 10:22 p.m.

Miguel Godau says it's a “hard time” for the NDP party and in Canadian politics.

As the NDP candidate, he netted 2,652 votes in the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding — good for 6.16 per cent. He spent election night with his family in Castlegar.

“A lot of emotions, and obviously I wish there were different results, but I'm proud of the campaign we ran and I could not have gone through this process without the voters who supported me,” he told Castanet Kamloops.

He said he was saddened to see there wasn’t more NDP representation and the party will need to reflect and re-strategize to see what will need to be done differently.

Godau said this election appeared to be a two-horse race between the Conservatives and Liberals.

“I think that’s a fear of the States and the fear of electing the Conservatives and the marketing of the Liberals for strategic voting, and really won a lot of votes,” he said.

He thinks it’s important to have broad representation in Parliament, but with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh stepping down he said he’s interested in what the next steps for the party will be.

“I'm interested to see what the next steps for the NDP are with that, but he's fought for people and I’m excited for the work that he has done and so thankful for the work he's done,” Godau said.

He congratulated newly re-elected Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola Conservative MP Frank Caputo and Prime Minister Mark Carney.

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UPDATE: 9:33 p.m.

Frank Caputo says he’s overwhelmed after winning a second term as MP.

The Conservative will head back to Ottawa to represent Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola.

“I’m so overwhelmed. It’s going to be such a joy to return to the House of Commons,” Caputo told Castanet a few minutes after his victory was declared.

"I’m going to take tomorrow to clean up, then sleep, then hopefully Wednesday I’ll get back to work.”

It’s a bittersweet night for Caputo, with Mark Carney’s Liberals forming government. He said a lot of the races are still too close to call.

“Obviously you want to always form government. Some polls are still coming in, so we’ll have to see where that leads,” he said.

“Right now, I am proud locally. Of course we want to win The NDP collapse was really big. … A minority government was not what anybody had on their radar today, so I think I need time to process it.”

This story will be updated throughout the evening.

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UPDATE: 8:47 p.m.

Conservative Frank Caputo is going back to Ottawa for a second term.

Caputo will win the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding. At 8:40 p.m., with a third of polls reporting, he is nearly 20 points on second-place Iain Currie, running for the Liberals.

Caputo has 8,259 votes, followed by Currie’s 5,585, NDP Miguel Godau’s 1,035, Green Jenna Lindley’s 268 and PPC Chris Enns’ 149.

This story will be updated throughout the evening.

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UPDATED: 8:07 p.m.

Iain Currie could not be more nervous.

The Liberal candidate for Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola was watching the results roll in with party supporters at the Delta Hotel on Victoria Street when Castanet caught up with him at about 7:30 p.m.

“I don’t think it’s possible that I could be more nervous — I have reached the titration point of nervousness,” he said.

"It’s just the nature of the beast, regardless of how things unfold. I ran a great campaign, we’ve got lots of volunteers who are in this room who put our everything into it — and we’ll see what happens.”

As of 8 p.m., with 26 of 272 polls reporting, Currie was trailing incumbent Conservative Frank Caputo by nearly 700 votes.

Caputo is in front with 2,351, followed by Currie’s 1,685, the NDP’s Miguel Godau with 369, the Green Party’s Jenna Lindley with 78 and the PPC’s Chris Enns with 51.

The celebration at the Delta is a lively affair, especially after the race was called nationally for Mark Carney’s Liberal Party.

The Conservative gathering, a private affair at Kamloops Square on Seymour Street, has a sombre mood, according to one attendee.

This story will be updated throughout the evening.

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UPDATE: 7:48 p.m.

The first results are rolling in for the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding, and early numbers have incumbent Conservative Frank Caputo out in front.

At 7:45 p.m., very early returns had Caputo in front with 235 votes, followed by Liberal Iain Currie with 142, the NDP's Miguel Godau with 56, Green Jenna Lindley with 13 and the PPC's Chris Enns with 10.

NDP supporters are watching those results from a table at Tumbleweeds Lounge in the Plaza Hotel.

Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola candidate Godau is at home in Castlegar, but he is at the table thanks to the magic of Zoom.

Nobody in the NDP camp would talk to reporters before local results were clear.

This story will be updated throughout the evening.

UPDATE: 7:26 p.m.

Conservative incumbent Frank Caputo is nervously watching the results roll in at a private gathering at Kamloops Square on Seymour Street.

“Nervous anticipation here,” he told Castanet shortly after 7 p.m., a few moments before the race was called for Mark Carney’s Liberals.

"Out east it’s a bit of everything — some surprises, some things that are not so surprising. Right now I’m just trying to digest it all.”

Caputo, who was elected as MP in 2021, said he liked the way his campaign went.

“We really did work our hardest, so let’s see how things play out,” he said.

As of 7:25 p.m., Elections Canada's website is showing no results for the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding.

This story will be updated as more information becomes known.

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UPDATE: 5:27 p.m.

Candidates for the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding have their plans set for election night.

There will be no reporters in the room as Conservative incumbent Frank Caputo watches the results come in. He is not hosting a public event, but will be posted up at his Kamloops office on Seymour Street with family and friends.

"No media will be permitted inside," Caputo told Castanet, calling it a "tiny venue."

Both Kamloops-area Liberal candidates — Iain Currie for Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola and Ken Robertson for Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies — will watch the results come in at the Delta Hotel on Victoria Street.

Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola NDP candidate Miguel Godau will be in his hometown of Castlegar on election night, but campaign supporters will be gathered at the Tumbleweed Lounge in the 400-block of Victoria Street in downtown Kamloops to watch the results roll in.

Chris Enns of the PPC said he is spending election night with family and friends, hosting a barbecue at his home in Clearwater.

Journalists are allowed to attend the Liberal and NDP events, and Castanet will have reporters making the rounds all evening.

This story will be updated as more information becomes known.

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ORIGINAL STORY: 4:53 p.m.

The race to be the first MP to represent Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola has shown parallels to the national campaign, with two would-be contenders emerging and the possibility of the NDP’s historically robust local support slipping.

Canada’s 45th election campaign has been unprecedented, dominated by the threat of U.S. annexation that continued right until voting day with President Donald Trump repeating his call for Canada to elect the man who has the “strength” to see Canada become the 51st state.

The campaign also saw a record number of Canadians taking advantage of advanced polls.

The American elephant in the room also pushed the election into more of a two-horse race than in recent years with pollsters showing the NDP possibly losing support — a factor that showed itself anecdotally in Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola.

The newly redrawn riding, previously Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, sees incumbent Conservative Frank Caputo up against former colleague Iain Currie, who is running for the Liberals following two unsuccessful runs for the Green Party.

Sparks flew between the two rivals during an all-candidates debate last week.

Rounding out the field is Miguel Godau of the NDP and Chris Enns of the People’s Party of Canada. The Green Party named a candidate for the riding, Jenna Lindley, but she has not been heard from on the campaign trail, though her name is on the ballot.

Enns has spoken about wanting to implement the PPC agenda with a moratorium on immigration, while Godau has said he wants to be an ear for the people of the riding in Ottawa.

Currie has gone on the offensive, pointing to the Liberals' strong polling and positioning himself as a would-be government MP.

Caputo has flexed his record, noting he had a private members bill passed from Opposition — a rare feat — and has numerous others he plans to pursue if elected.

Polls are open until 7 p.m.

Check back here for updates on the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding as the election night unfolds. Coverage on the race to represent the Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies riding is available here.