The Calgary mayoral election was one for the history books. The campaign period and election night had their fair share of twists and turns, including a brand-new mayor, an incumbent’s loss, and a stark decline in voter turnout.
Jyoti Gondek made history in 2021 as the first female mayor of Calgary, but failed to win reelection for a second term, making her only the second incumbent to lose reelection since Ross Alger’s loss to Ralph Klein in 1980. The incumbent held a steady third place on election night and eventually gained 71,466 votes out of a total of 348,865.
Gondek conceded before midnight on election night, leaving the race in Sonya Sharp’s and Jeromy Farkas’ hands.
“This didn’t end up the way that we had all hoped, but I’m standing here very proud of what we have built together, and I’m profoundly grateful for the privilege of having served this incredible city, the best city in the world,” Gondek said in her speech to supporters.
“I am also proud to have run a campaign that was built on optimism and believing that politicians can still be grounded in goodness and solutions and respect for one another.”
Analyzing a loss
Lori Williams, a political science professor at MRU, was surprised to see Gondek trailing in third place, despite previous polls predicting otherwise.
“I thought she would do better based on the polling that we saw. Having said that, when she announced that she was going to run, I just thought, boy, with all the controversies associated with her.” Williams said.
“Many criticized her for the reusable bags issue, as well as the messaging around the water main and the water shortages that people experienced, and so forth. And she acknowledged that she could have done better to manage and message all of those things.”
Williams outlined how incumbency has its advantages with name recognition and familiarity with voters. Still, for Gondek, familiarity may have reminded Calgarians of times when they were most frustrated with her.
“She seemed to grow and understand that she needed to be better at communication as her term in office progressed, but she also had a recall campaign brought against her. She had some pretty visceral, I’ll say, threatening behaviours brought against her. She had a plastic horse’s head left on her doorstep. She had a protest outside her home; people squealing their tires up and down the street in front of her place because they weren’t happy with her,” she said.
Voter turnout
The 2025 Calgary municipal election saw 39 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballot, a decrease from the 2021 election, which saw 46 per cent turnout. This year’s count was the lowest since 2013, when 39 per cent of eligible voters headed to the polls.
Williams acknowledged that this low voter turnout contributed to Gondek’s failed reelection bid.
“I think without a clear candidate, or a couple of candidates that provided clear choices, a sense of what voting for this or that person might mean ultimately, and the number of issues and the different views that Calgarians had on some of those issues, I just got the sense that people were not really engaged, partly because they weren’t that clear. They didn’t see clear, appealing, or motivating choices available to them,” Williams explained.
When it comes to moving forward, Gondek confirmed in her concession speech that she has no interest in provincial or federal politics, but that does not mean her story is over.
“I don’t like the idea of parties. I’m not down on that. I’m not one of those people who did this to get into something else,” she said. “I did this because I care about the city a lot, and I will continue to be involved in helping build the strongest, most prosperous city in this nation.”