DOUBLE ELECTION 2026: Boultbee out in Penticton, Wooldridge back in Kelowna, more candidates announced

It’s a mad dash to get candidates in ridings all around the province and some notable names stepped up to the plate this past weekend in the Okanagan and Kamloops.

There’s some big rematches, Loyal Wooldridge against Kristina Loewen in Kelowna Centre, Kevin Acton against Harwinder Sandhu in Vernon-Lumby, along with a last minute bomb shell from floor-crosser Amelia Boultbee in Penticton-Summerland.

Boultbee was initially elected as a BC Conservative in 2024, left the party and then joined the BC NDP in July. She just announced that she’s stepping aside to let someone else run in her place.

“This was not an easy decision,” she wrote in a statement posted to social media.

“Because I crossed the floor so recently, I am unable to marshal the kind of campaign necessary to give the NDP a fair shot in this snap election. I am stepping aside not because I want to quit, but to make way for a more winnable candidate in these circumstances.”

Boultbee’s departure from Penticton-Summerland has left OneBC’s Warren Hamm as the riding’s only official candidate. Hamm is an aircraft maintenance engineer and he ran to be the BC Conservative leader, but he lost to Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

Meanwhile there’s a rematch is brewing in Kelowna Centre.

Wooldridge ran for the BC NDP in 2024 when he lost to BC Conservative Kristina Loewen by a handful of votes. But over the weekend he announced he wants a rematch as his second term on Kelowna City Council comes to a close.

“A lot has changed quickly over the last couple of weeks, and I’m willing to change course in the face of political instability. But my commitment to Kelowna hasn’t changed. Since my last run for MLA in Kelowna-Centre, I’ve kept working as a two-term City Councillor, Chair of the Regional District of Central Okanagan, and leaning into my Master’s studies in Disaster and Emergency Management,” he said in his candidacy announcement.

Further north, Lumby’s mayor Kevin Acton is taking another run at a provincial seat.

Acton has been mayor of Lumby since 2009, and he was in the middle of running for another term when Premier David Eby called this provincial election to run at the same time as municipal races.

In 2024, Acton was the Vernon-Lumby candidate for BC United, formerly the BC Liberals. Then, BC United folded its campaign leaving Acton without a party. Acton decided to keep running anyways as an independent and he came in third. The BC NDP’s Harwinder Sandhu narrowly won the riding.

But Acton is running as a BC Conservative this time around.

“I am honoured to have been selected as the Conservative candidate for Vernon–Lumby,” Acton said in a press release. “This riding is my home, and I know the people, communities and challenges that make it such a special place. I’m ready to work hard, listen to residents across the riding, and earn their trust.”

These two are the latest to get in the race in a field of incumbents running to keep their seats.

So far, the only incumbent who hasn’t said whether they are running or not is Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream’s controversial independent MLA Tara Armstrong.

The BC NDP has yet to nominate candidates in the Kamloops region.

OneBC also announced a candidate to go up against Sandhu and Acton in Vernon-Lumby, Chantel Gibbs. She’s an accountant with her own financial planning service.

Things are changing by the minute as the candidate nomination deadline, Saturday, Oct. 3, rapidly approaches.

Provincial election day is Saturday, Oct. 24, while municipal election day is Saturday, Oct. 17.