Keanin Loomis is trying a second time to be elected as Mayor of Hamilton. He made it official on Wednesday morning, holding a press announcement outside of the Westdale Theatre.
Loomis was a closer second-place runner-up in the 2022 election, only 1,663 votes behind winner Andrea Horwath. The first credible opinion poll leading into the 2026 municipal election places Loomis at 46 per cent compared to 40 per cent for Horwath among decided voters.
The following is a transcript of Loomis’s remarks, followed by his answers in a one-on-one conversation following the announcement.
CP24 carried the announcement live, and posted video to YouTube.
Primary Announcement
Keanin Loomis:
[0:00] Thank you for joining us here outside of the Westdale Theatre here in Hamilton, one of Hamilton’s great landmarks. In there, I just gave a speech on the past, present, and future of the Hamilton steel industry to the folks at the Hamilton Third Age Learning group — incredible people.
[0:20] I was asked if I would be running for mayor. I kind of got the tip-off well in advance from many people who intended to come that this was going to be one of their top questions, and I decided that it is indeed time to acknowledge my intentions, and so I wanted to be able to share it to the rest of the public.
[0:38] After much discussion with my family and with my supporters, and with many, many Hamiltonians over the last number of years, I wanted to announce that I intend to run for election for Mayor in this upcoming election in October of 2026. [0:56] When I ran for mayor in 2022, I heard the same message everywhere — people in Hamilton desired real change and real leadership at Hamilton City Hall, and it has become abundantly clear that the need has only grown over this term of Council. Over the last three years, we haven’t seen the leadership, the discipline, or the urgency needed to move Hamilton forward, and because of it, our city is in worse shape now than when I last ran.
[1:24] We need a leader that sets a vision, unites people, and turns plans into progress, and we need to put people before politics. Instead of managing decline, we can reclaim our momentum, but only if we choose leadership that matches the city’s great potential.
[1:38] I’m running for Mayor of Hamilton because I love this city and it’s where I’m raising my family. I believe in Hamilton and I can’t be a bystander any longer to the mismanagement that we are seeing day in and day out. I’m running for Mayor of Hamilton because Hamilton deserves better.
[1:55] Thank you, I will take some questions now.
Joey Coleman: [1:58] Mayor of Hamilton doesn’t look like a particularly envious job. When you take office, you’re taking over a city that is basically fiscally bankrupt, a Council that’s deeply divided, you’re inheriting messes that haven’t been cleaned up yet. Why are you going to take on this task instead of staying in your current job?
Keanin Loomis: [2:20] Well, the way you lay it out, Joey, maybe I should reconsider — but absolutely not. You’re right, this is a mess that the next Mayor will be inheriting.
We really did last time around have a very positive campaign and we tried to stay out of the gutter that our opponents were in often during the campaign, but now this Mayor has a record to run on and it’s not a good one.
Day in and day out, our Mayor is demonstrating that she just doesn’t have the competency to be doing this job. It’s costing us wasted taxpayer dollars, it’s costing us our reputation — Hamilton’s reputation is in shambles — and it’s costing us opportunity. Hamiltonians expect serious, competent management at City Hall and I believe that I’m the right candidate to do that.
CHCH: [3:27] You came real close last time. What are you going to do differently this time to get over the top?
Keanin Loomis: [3:33] I’ll be a much better candidate this time around — it always is the case when you have the opportunity to learn — but I wouldn’t say that we would do anything dramatically differently than we did last time. [3:50] All analysis shows that if we had one more week, we would have won the election. [3:56] I intend to still run a positive campaign. [4:00] Our Mayor has a record to run on now that is not one I would want to run on, and there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse out there in Hamilton. [4:09] Basically, I can recycle the same platform because nothing has happened over the last four years.
TheSpec: [4:20] The budget came out yesterday and the numbers for the next two years are looking like they’re set up for huge increases. If you win, what can you do when you’re already looking at such huge increases?
Keanin Loomis: [4:33] No one person can solve this alone and I’m not naive to the challenges. [4:45] It’s going to require bringing together Council in a way that obviously didn’t happen this time around — the whole process this time around was a complete embarrassment. [4:56] Coming into office in November 2026, one of the first jobs a mayor has is to start setting a budget for 2027, and I’m going to bring everybody together, including experts in this city. [5:10] There’s a lot of time for us to develop the platform, but the budget is going to be first and foremost in my mind because that’s going to be priority number one when I get elected.
TheSpec: [5:24] Strong Mayor powers change what a person in that role can do. Does that change the campaign or anything about what you’re arguing for your position?
Keanin Loomis: [5:33] No, I don’t think Strong Mayor powers changes anything. [5:36] A mayor that has a united Council doesn’t need to use Strong Mayor powers, and there are lots of good examples of that across the province. [5:46] Mayors are still trying to grapple with what Strong Mayor powers means, especially for the budgeting process — it’s a very complex system that’s been created by the province. [6:04] There will be far greater involvement with Council in setting the budget, especially since many of the current councillors will likely win re-election and will have gone through the process before. I’ll be leaning on them for sure.
Joey Coleman: [6:13] Are you planning to make any changes to senior leadership if elected?
Keanin Loomis: [6:22] One of the pillars of our last campaign — and it’s still the case because the issues are even worse now — is trust in City Hall. Taxpayers have absolutely no trust in how their dollars are being spent and there’s been no accountability for any of the fiascos we’ve experienced over the last number of years.
[6:55] You can’t tackle any of the challenges of this city if we don’t have the best and brightest working for it, and the fact is it’s a toxic environment right now. There’s a lot of infighting within the Mayor’s office, within Council, within City Hall.
[7:20] We need to focus on the culture of the city and have the right people in place before we can take on any of the challenges we’re dealing with. Only through that process, and through listening to the leaders in this community and regular taxpayers, are we going to be able to restore the trust that Hamiltonians should have in our City Hall.
Joey Coleman: [7:47] Do you have any thoughts or hopes on voter turnout in this election?
Keanin Loomis: [7:53] I hope for strong turnout. I think we had pretty good turnout relative to other communities last time around, and I think that was due to a spirited race.
[8:05] I expect another spirited race this time around. Nobody will outwork me in seeking this position — we’ll have the chance to engage with thousands of Hamiltonians over the course of the campaign, get them to understand why this should matter to them and why they should be voting, and I hope to see that turnout on election day.
One-on-One Conversation Post Announcement
Joey Coleman: Terry Cooke is one of the many people on your campaign team. He’s been out talking with people, rounding up support. What role do you see for Terry in your campaign and potentially for your transitions?
Keanin Loomis: Terry has always been a mentor to me from the very beginning. We worked in the Standard Life building when I was CEO of The Chamber and he was head of The Community Foundation And so we spent a lot of time together I’ve always appreciated his advice, his expertise and all of that. And obviously he’s had a great deal of electoral success in this community and knows a lot of people so you know He is definitely a senior advisor to this campaign one of many.
You know very well, almost more than anybody else, the quality of all of the incredible volunteers that we have and will have on this campaign.
Joey Coleman: when are you planning to visit the clerks office to make it official?
Keanin Loomis: It will be in May. I will be filing soon after the opening bell and we’ll be able to ramp things up obviously in the summer.
It’ll be in May, sorry. be in May. I will be filing free soon after the deadline, or after the opening bell and we’ll be able to you know things ramp up obviously in summer and I remember doing door knocking last year in June people are going like why are you knocking on my door right? And then obviously it reaches its crescendo in September and October so let’s put in full effort just as we did last time around.
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: February 25, 2026
Last updated: February 25, 2026
Author: Joey Coleman
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