Former Olympic athlete Ravi Kahlon scored a victory in the battleground riding of Delta North.
Kahlon, who represented Canada in field hockey in the Beijing and Sydney Olympics, now vows to be a voice for his constituents and champion their concerns in the legislature.
“The question around affordability and critical services people wanted were the main drivers of it,” said Kahlon of his win by more than 1,800 votes over Liberal rival Scott Hamilton with all polling stations reporting.
“We heard these issues consistently and the premier’s unpopularity was loud and clear in Delta.”
Kahlon wrestled the riding from Hamilton, a former Delta councillor, who won the seat in 2013 by a razor-thin 203-vote margin over NDP candidate Sylvia Bishop.
At a Surrey banquet hall where Kahlon gathered with fellow NDP candidates, his mood moved from “cautiously optimistic” when early poll results started trickling in to “optimistic optimistic” later Tuesday evening.
The 37-year-old, who has worked in the NDP caucus for six years, credited his team, many of them under-40 and new to senior roles in the campaign, with helping him become an MLA.
“Our goal was to engage young people in the political process as well,” Kahlon said.
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The NDP made an aggressive play for Delta North, which historically swung back and forth between the two major parties.
On Tuesday night, their efforts — including a couple stops by leader John Horgan in the area during the campaign — paid off.
The Liberals, however, had other reasons to celebrate.
Liberal candidate Ian Paton lured voters back to Delta South’s traditional Liberal roots, beating closest challenger Nicholas Wong, an Independent, by a comfortable margin.
“Many years of community involvement, volunteering, and being on Delta city council the last seven years gaining experience has done me a lot of good and given me the opportunity to move to the next step provincially,” said Paton, celebrating his victory at a Tsawwassen hotel with supporters.
Delta South has been represented by popular Independent MLA Vicki Huntington for two terms.
The Liberals have a slight lead in the newly created riding of Richmond Queensborough where high-profile candidate Jas Johal was ahead of NDP candidate Aman Singh by 262 votes with all 87 polls reporting.
Richmond’s other ridings opted for the status quo.
Teresa Wat cruised to her second term in office in Richmond Centre North, with a 20-point lead over NDP candidate Lyren Chu.
Linda Reid, B.C.’s longest-serving MLA, won about 50 per cent of ballots cast in Richmond East. NDP candidate Chak Au, a two-term Richmond councillor, placed second with about 40 per cent support.
And in Richmond Steveston, voters chose to stick with John Yap, who will serve his fourth term in government.
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