Kelowna typically gets a lot of candidates running for city council, but this time around the list is dizzying. There are dozens of people on the ballot for city council but only a few vying for the mayor’s seat.

So, here are a few things to know heading into the election in Kelowna.

There are a total of 46 candidates, and voters are going to be picking one mayor, eight city councillors and four school trustees next month.

Who’s running for mayor?

Incumbent mayor Tom Dyas is running to keep his seat and he’s up against councillor Ron Cannan who’s looking to win a promotion.

Mayor of Kelowna is the first political office he has held since being elected in 2022. Prior to being the city’s mayor he was president of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.

Cannan was first elected to city council in 1996 and then he went on to serve as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 2006 until 2015. He came back to Kelowna City Hall in 2022.

A lesser known and controversial candidate, Andrew Uitvlugt, is also going to be on the ballot. Shortly after he posted about his run for mayor he posted a flurry of 9/11 conspiracies on social media and once suggested giving crack cocaine to homeless people to encourage them to pick up litter. He placed last in a 2011 run for city council.

Who’s running for council?

There are four incumbents looking to keep their council seats: Mohini Singh, Maxine DeHart, Gord Lovegrove and Rick Webber. Since Charlie Hodge, Loyal Wooldridge, Luke Stack and Ron Cannan aren’t vying for a spot on council there are going to be at least four new faces in council chambers.

Some candidates have tried their hand at other political offices like Kevin Kraft who ran as an independent in the 2024 provincial election and Trevor McAleese who ran for the NDP in the 2025 federal election.

There are also candidates who have tried to get onto city council before. JC Rathwell, Davis Kyle, Chris Bocskei and others have run unsuccessful campaigns in elections past.

There’s an all-candidates forum set for Sept. 26 at 1:30 p.m. at Willow Park Church for mayor, council and school trustee.

Election issues

Safety, housing, taxes and transparency are definitely top of mind this election cycle for both mayoral and council candidates.

Over the past year, safety in downtown Kelowna was a major issue. Complaints from businesses led to an increased police presence following the end of drug decriminalization.

According to the statistics, Kelowna’s rental housing situation has improved with a skyrocketing vacancy rate and slight declines in rent prices.

Kelowna’s property tax rates have increased steadily and predictably, while some neighbouring cities have seen major spikes.

Some other controversies over the past few years have been the Hotel Eldorado boardwalk closure, the Kelowna Springs Golf Course development and the Airbnb restrictions.

How Kelowna has voted in the past

In 2022, Tom Dyas won the mayoral race by a landslide. Dyas had 21,328 votes defeating incumbent Colin Basran who received 10,905 votes.

Ron Cannan stood out in the council race with 17,152 votes, the most out of any councillor.

Davis Kyle is a contender this year and in 2022 he received 10,122 votes, losing the last council seat to Maxine DeHart by 1,000 votes.

Other 2022 candidates who are back again didn’t do as well as Kyle. Susan Ames received 7,543 votes, Indy Dhial got 5,020 votes and Chris Bocskei garnered 2,923 votes.

Most people in the Okanagan know it’s generally a conservative voter base, but in recent years Kelowna has been relatively divided. Kelowna narrowly elected a BC Conservative MLA in 2024, and a Liberal MP was elected in 2025.

Who’s running for school trustee?

There are six candidates for school trustee; Joyce Brinkerhoff, Deb Dickerson-Pogue, Richard Gauthier, Val Johnson, Jim Strachan and Ashok Kumar Verma. Johnson is the only incumbent so most of the city’s school trustees are going to be new faces.

Time will tell who comes out on top after municipal election day, Saturday, Oct. 17.