Stephen Fuhr voted in as next MP of Kelowna riding

UPDATE 12:30 p.m.

Former fighter pilot Stephen Fuhr will be Kelowna's next MP, according to preliminary figures from Elections Canada.

Elections Canada finished counting the nearly 5,000 special ballots that were remaining from Monday night just after noon on Tuesday, and Fuhr maintained the lead he set early in the race. He appears to have won the race.

"We’re thrilled," Fuhr said.

"It takes a lot of people to come together and make it happen in these conservative lock ridings like Kelowna, and I'm thankful for the support and thrilled with the results."

According to the most recent numbers Fuhr had 48.5 per cent of the support with 28,702 votes cast for him. Conservative incumbent Tracy Gray got 27,625 votes.

Elections Canada said all vote counts are ‘preliminary’ until confirmed by the Returning Officers in the coming days, as per the Canada Elections Act.

This rematch was a long-time coming. Fuhr, in 2019, lost to Gray in what was then known as the Kelowna-Lake Country riding.

** Correction: An earlier version of this story had a slimmer margin of victory for Fuhr. Voter numbers appear to have changed at Elections Canada's site.

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UPDATE 11:45 a.m.

It was a rollercoaster of an evening for Kelowna Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr on election night.

Fuhr had a slim 170-vote lead over his Conservative opponent, incumbent Tracy Gray, when Monday came to an end. On Tuesday, the pair awaited a special ballots count to find out who would win.

There are 4,907 special ballots still to be counted.

Elections Canada explained that special ballots submitted in the riding are counted by the Kelowna returning office but ballots mailed in, cast by incarcerated voters and those cast by members of the Canadian Forces are counted at Elections Canada headquarters in Ottawa. The result is then sent to the local returning office.

“So now we just sit and wait,” said Fuhr Tuesday morning.

He said win or lose, he’s proud of the campaign he ran, saying because of the traditional strength of the Conservative vote in Kelowna, he knew he had to build a coalition of support. He said he felt he did just that.

“I have no regrets,” said Fuhr, adding he did not “take the bait from the other team” during the five-week campaign and didn’t make any “unforced" errors.

Going into the vote, Fuhr said he felt it would be close between him and Gray and acknowledged he benefited from support that normally would have gone to the NDP candidate in the riding. On Monday, the NDP's Trevor McAleese garnered just 3.9% of the vote, down from the 18% the NDP candidate who ran in 2021 received.

The Kelowna result on election night was one of the closest in the country, with Fuhr’s lead of 170 votes a margin of just 0.3%. A margin of 0.1% will prompt an automatic recount.

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UPDATE 9:30 a.m., Tuesday

After pausing in the early morning hours, Elections Canada resumed counting ballots.

That means results in Kelowna should be made available "sometime today", an Elections Canada representative said in an email.

Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr holds a 170-vote lead over Conservative candidate Tracy Gray.

Special ballots may be what remains and they could be significant in a number of ridings that are still too close to call, like Kelowna.

Elections Canada's website states that special ballots are for an elector who cannot or does not want to vote at an advance or election day poll. Those who apply to vote by special ballot can vote by mail or in person at any Elections Canada office.

Special ballot voting is also an option for those who are away from their riding whether inside or outside Canada.

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UPDATE 12:30 a.m.

With one polling station left to count, Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr holds a 170-vote lead over Conservative candidate Tracy Gray.

It is not clear when the last poll will report to Elections Canada.

This is the last update of the evening on this race with Castanet resuming coverage Tuesday morning.

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UPDATE 11:45 p.m.

With just one poll left to count, Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr has increased his lead over incumbent Conservative candidate Tracy Gray to 170 votes.

As of 11:45 p.m., 202 of Kelowna's 203 polls have now reported, making up 99.5% of the riding's votes counted.

So far, Fuhr has secured 26,061 votes while Gray has 25,891. It's not clear when the riding's final poll will be reporting.

An automatic recount is triggered when the gap between the winner and second place is less than one thousandth of the total votes cast. It appears about 55,000 votes will have been counted in the riding, so a recount would be automatically triggered if the gap between Fuhr and Gray falls to less than 55 votes.

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UPDATE 11:30 p.m.

With just 66 votes separating incumbent Conservative candidate Tracy Gray and Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr in the Kelowna riding, Fuhr told his supporters Monday night, "apparently Kelowna likes close elections.”

With the race too close to call, Fuhr waited until 11 p.m. to speak at his election party at The Office Brewery, thanking them for their support and apologizing for taking so long.

"I was hoping we could get all the polls in but they're just dragging in," he said. “I think there's no scenario where this is not going to be recount, I don't know all the rules around it but this is so close.”

In federal elections, an automatic recount is triggered when the gap between the winner and second place is less than one thousandth of the total votes cast. With just over 54,000 votes counted in the Kelowna riding so far, a recount would be automatically triggered if the gap between Fuhr and Gray falls to less than 54 votes.

“I'm hopeful this is going to be positive for us ... I'd rather be 66 votes ahead than 66 votes behind,"Fuhr said.

“It is a massive undertaking in a riding like this to have the result that we got, win or lose, it will be on the margin.”

The Kelowna riding is one of the closest races in the country Monday night. As of 11:30 p.m., 201 of the riding's 203 polls have reported, making up 99% of all votes counted. At this time, Fuhr has secured 25,781 votes compared to Gray's 25,715.

Only the Terrebonne and Terra Nova-The Peninsulas ridings, in Quebec and Newfoundland respectively, are closer races than Kelowna as of Monday night.

Making a brief appearance at her election night party at Kelowna's Mid-Town Station at 10 p.m., Gray thanked her supporters, noting “it looks like it's going to be a long night.”

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UPDATE 10:30 p.m.

Constituents in the Kelowna riding aren't getting a clear answer about who will represent them in Ottawa any time soon.

While elections have been called in ridings across Canada, Kelowna's is too close to make a definitive decision. There are fewer than 100 votes separating Conservative candidate Tracy Gray and Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr.

Speaking briefly to supporters at Kelowna's Mid-Town Station before heading home, Gray said that "it looks like it's going to be a long night."

She thanked volunteers in her campaign who helped get her message to 80,000 doorsteps, 7,200 of which she got to herself.

She said she heard lots of conversations about what's important to her constituents.

"Cost of living, crime, addiction and mental health and people wanting a change," she said, listing top concerns she's heard.

"So, as we watch as things evolve, let's all stay together. It's been such an honour to serve this community and I'm sure I'll be connecting with you over the next couple of hours."

Fuhr has yet to make a statement.

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UPDATE 9:50 p.m.

The race between Stephen Fuhr and Tracy Gray has become even closer.

Fuhr is still holding onto the lead, though the gap between the two political rivals has closed significantly.

With 175 of 203 polls counted, Fuhr has 47.8 per cent of the vote while Gray has 47.3 per cent.

With the race being so tight, neither candidate has spoken with supporters gathered at pubs around the city.

Up-to-the-minute local results can be found here.

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UPDATE 8:53 p.m.

Optimism and excitement are palpable at the Stephen Fuhr election night rallying point.

Fuhr has stayed in the lead as polling station results have continued to trickle in Monday night. With 95 of 203 stations accounted for, Fuhr has 48.9 per cent of the vote, while incumbent MP Tracy Gray has 46.2 per cent of the vote.

Fuhr's volunteer communications officer Nicole Rustad said everyone gathered is excited and optimistic about the early local results.

"We will see what happens, the night could be really long," she said.

Knowing that Mark Carney is going to be the next Prime Minister of Canada, however, is something that they're celebrating now.

"Carney has inspired everyone across Canada and brought people together from across party lines and it shows in the number of people who have come out to vote," Rustad said.

Up-to-the-minute local results can be found here.

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UPDATE 7:56 p.m.

More than 15,000 votes have been counted in the Kelowna riding and the race is still tight.

With 19 polling stations reporting, Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr is ahead with 50.4 per cent of the vote, while Tracy Gray has roughly 46 per cent of the vote.

With local results strong for the Liberals and a Liberal minority government predicted, the mood at the Fuhr headquarters is notably optimistic.

A Castanet reporter at the Fuhr rallying point said the mood is upbeat as the numbers roll in. Up-to-the-minute local results can be found here.

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UPDATE 7:35 p.m.

Results from polling stations are starting to be posted and, as predicted, Kelowna's Liberal and Conservative candidates are neck and neck.

With just nine of 203 polling stations accounted for, Liberal Stephen Fuhr is in the lead with 49.3 per cent of the vote, versus Tracy Gray who has 46.9 per cent.

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UPDATE 7 p.m.

Polls have closed in the 2025 federal election and results are expected to roll in soon.

Supporters are starting to gather at candidate rallying spots, though it will be some time until the results are clear.

The race is between Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr and incumbent Conservative Tracy Gray and they won't be available to speak to until the votes are tallied.

According to pollsters, the race will be close.

ORIGINAL 4:30 p.m.

After five weeks of campaigning, Kelowna voters head to the polls Monday to decide who will represent them in Ottawa in what's shaping up to be a tight race.

Conservative MP Tracy Gray is the incumbent first elected in 2019 and she's running against former MP and Liberal candidate Stephen Fuhr who she unseated that same year. Also running is NDP candidate Trevor McAleese and Green candidate Catriona Wright.

As of Monday, 25,406 Kelowna voters had already cast their ballots in advance polls. An estimated 7.3 million Canadians — a record — cast their ballots across the country, according to Elections Canada.

Whether that high number at the advance polls is significant remains to be seen, but what is usually a Conservative stronghold has seen some softening support with some prediction pollsters saying the riding is a toss up.

It's a notion that is at odds with history. Elections Canada’s data shows that over the last 60-plus years there have been two political shifts away from conservative politics in the Central Okanagan.

The first time Kelowna had a Liberal MP was in 1968 when Kelowna, like the rest of the country, was swept up in "Trudeaumania" and voted in Bruce Howard. Howard was one of the 155 Liberals elected to the House of Commons that year and lost in the following election.

The next time Kelowna voted in a Liberal was when Fuhr was elected in the riding in 2015, as Justin Trudeau's version of "Trudeaumania" swept across the country.

Then Gray took the riding in the 2019 election.

Visit this page on election night for a complete breakdown of up to the minute results.