Conservative Zee Hamid is headed to Queen's Park.
Hamid handily won Thursday night’s byelection, according to unofficial results from Elections Ontario, besting Liberal Galen Naidoo Harris and seven other MPP hopefuls.
Just before 10 p.m, Hamid and Premier Doug Ford joined supporters at a packed Shoeless Joe’s on Main — greeted by loud cheers and chants. Both gave the community and volunteers a shout out.
“Tonight, we're going to party,” said the MPP-elect.
Addressing the media shortly after, Hamid — who came close to winning the town's mayoral race in 2022 — said the extra spotlight on Milton didn’t faze him and that he felt no added pressure.
“I was very excited to be part of the Ford nation. I was very excited to join the team and I'm very, very happy and very looking forward to getting things done for the people of Milton and for the province of Ontario,” he said.
Ford said he was “humbled” by the outcome.
“We were fortunate, we're blessed,” Ford said, lauding Hamid as an “incredible candidate.”
Among the key byelection issues, the contentious Campbellville quarry emerged as a central focus, frequently putting the conservatives on the defensive over Ford’s stance to let the environmental assessment (EA) process to continue.
When asked about the commitment to stop the quarry, Ford stated he’ll make the decision after the EA.
“We’ll sit down (with the community),” Ford said. “We believe in listening to the people.”
This was echoed by Hamid, who said, “That’s the right thing to do. We’re going to talk after the EA.”
Over at East Side Mario’s, where the Liberals held their election night event, Naidoo Harris thanked his family and supporters.
Hinting about the next steps, he remarked: “I think politics is in my blood.”
“I’m gonna keep working for Milton, whatever way that I can,” he said.
The race attracted significant attention as a test case for the 2026 election. The Ontario Liberals elected Bonnie Crombie, in part, on the belief that she can win GTA ridings like Milton to put her party back into contention for government.
Crombie spun the losses as proof that Liberals are “the only alternative to Doug Ford in 2026.”
With all 47 polls reporting, Hamid secured 47 per cent of the votes, with 38.2 per cent going to Naidoo Harris. Edie Strachan of the NDP finished third with 6.7 per cent, while six other hopefuls ran in the battleground riding that's been PC blue since 2018.
As is typical with byelections, voter turnout was down significantly from the 42.7 per cent in 2022. This time around, 27.72 per cent of the 98,785 of registered voters cast a ballot.
The byelection was made necessary following PC cabinet member Parm Gill's January resignation to run federally for Pierre Poilievre' Conservatives.
-- with files from The Trillium's Jessica Smith Cross