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UPDATED: Brittny Anderson wins Nelson-Creston

Anderson came out on top of the final results made public by Elections BC
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Brittny Anderson is the new MLA for Nelson-Creston. Photo: Bill Metcalfe

Brittny Anderson of the NDP has been named the winner of the Nelson-Creston riding for the provincial election.

Anderson came out on top of final results released Sunday by Elections BC. She won her first campaign with 7,296 votes ahead of the Green Party’s Nicole Charlwood, who had 5,611.

“I feel so fortunate to have had such an amazing team who just came about and volunteered their time and worked so hard to on this campaign and I just feel immensely grateful,” said Anderson.

Tanya Finley of the Liberal Party followed with 4,171 votes, while Terry Tiessen of the Libertarian Party finished with 384.

Anderson led Charlwood by 934 when the same-day results were made public for the Oct. 24 election, but like other MLA-elects around B.C. she was forced to wait for mail-in ballots to be counted. Elections BC had previously said it estimated just over 4,000 ballots had arrived from Nelson-Creston.

Charlwood meanwhile captured the most votes the Greens have ever won in the riding, besting Kim Charlesworth’s 2017 tally of 5,130.

Charlwood congratulated Anderson in a statement Sunday.

“May she be successful in working towards more aggressive timelines for greenhouse gas reductions, with an eye to economic and forestry reform,” said Charlwood. “There are other MLAs, in the NDP and across party lines, with climate and reform platforms. Our hope is that they can unite to ‘bring change from within,’ that Brittny spoke of during the campaign.”

Anderson’s election means she will vacate her seat on Nelson City Council, which will in turn need to hold a byelection.

Her quick rise to provincial politics comes just two years after she won a bid for council in her first municipal election.

Anderson’s predecessor Michelle Mungall was also a young city councillor before winning three consecutive elections, and when she announced in September she was stepping away from politics it was shortly followed by an endorsement for Anderson.

“Part of it feels very unexpected, and part of it feels exactly where I should be, to be honest with you,” said Anderson.

“It’s one of those things where I didn’t expect it at all, and when Michelle asked me to run I was sort of taken aback. But it felt really like this was what I was meant to do. I love serving my community and I’m so excited to do that in Victoria.”

The BC NDP meanwhile will have a majority government after finishing the election with 57 seats. The Liberals took 28 seats, while the Green Party will send two candidates to Victoria.

@tyler_harper | tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
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Tyler Harper

About the Author: Tyler Harper

I’m editor-reporter at the Nelson Star, where I’ve worked since 2015.
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