CIVIC ELECTION – Lineup is set, six will contest for mayor, 29 for councillor

The lineup is set for the Kamloops civic election and it includes a couple of last minute surprises. Instead of the expected four candidates for mayor, there will be six.

Shortly before the 4 p.m. nomination deadline today (Friday, Sept. 11, 2026), two more names were added to the list — Kris Lloyd-Middleton and Ivory Winston. They join candidates Nelly Dever, Ray Dhaliwal, incumbent Reid Hamer-Jackson and Mike O’Reilly, all of whom are either currently on council or have previously been on council.

Here’s the mayoral list (click on the name to link to their nomination papers):

• DEVER, Nelly
• DHALIWAL, Ray
• HAMER-JACKSON, Reid
• LLOYD-MIDDLETON, Kris
• O’REILLY, Mike
• WINSTON, Ivory

There’s an even bigger group— 29 in all — running for the eight councillor seats. It’s not the most candidates ever but it comes close.

• ANDREWS, Brian
• BAKER, Dave
• BASS, Dale
• BEPPLE, Nancy
• BERTRAND, Rob
• BLAIR-WUNDERLICH, Kathrine
• BUCHER, Steve
• CLELAND, Bonnie
• DE MARNI, Alberto
• EBERLE, Bryce
• GIESBRECHT, Dennis
• GORDON, Mac B
• HALL, Kelly
• HEAD, Ian
• KARPUK, Stephen
• McDONALD, Lyndsay
• MIDDLETON, Margot
• MITRA, Christopher
• MORIN, Barbara
• NEUSTAETER, Katie
• RAINVILLE, Kadin
• REEB, Robin
• RITCEY, Jesse
• RONNQUIST, Doug
• SARAI, Bill
• SONNE, Cindy
• SUNDERMAN, Randy
• UNGER, Greg
• WEBSTER, Nevin

Sixteen candidates are seeking the five City (Area 1) seats on the School District 73 board of trustees.

• AVISS, Tyler
• BEHMANESH, Shahriar
• BERCEA, Alexandra
• BLENKHORN, James
• CAMPBELL, Sean
• GULLEY, Katherine
• GRIEVE, Heather
• HICKSON, Cole
• JOHAL, Jimmy
• KANG, Jo
• KARPUK, Kathleen
• KRAUSERT, Aaron
• McBRIDE, Bonnie
• MANSON, Troylana
• O’FEE, John
• PIGGIN, Deb

Lee Onslow and Shelley Sim will square of in School District Area 2 (North Thompson), and Cara McKelvey and Marie McGiven will contest Area 5 (Logan Lake). Bronwen Bird in Area 3 (Barriere), and Diane Jules in Area 4 (Chase) are unopposed.

In the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, most of the electoral area directors have been elected by acclamation: Cory George in Area P (Rivers and the Peaks), Jill Hayward in Area O (Lower North Thompson), Linda Brown in Area N (Beautiful Nicola Valley-South), Jim Harvey in Area M (Beautiful Nicola Valley-North), Doug Haughton in Area L (Grasslands), Mike Grenier in Area J (Copper Desert Country), Lee Onslow in Area B (Thompson Headwaters) and Usoff Tsao in Area A (Wells Gray Country).

Only two electoral areas will see elections. Jim Smith and former board member Sally Watson will contest Area E (Bonaparte Plateau), while former director Steven Rice takes on current director Tricia Thorpe in Area I (Blue Sky Country).