Isleifson holds on to Brandon East

The winds of change that swept through Brandon East in 2016 stayed true in 2019 as the Progressive Conservatives held onto the constituency — keeping the NDP from reclaiming their traditional stronghold.

Residents voted to send Progressive Conservative Len Isleifson back to the legislature on Tuesday for a second term, stopping NDP candidate and former Brandon city councillor Lonnie Patterson from retaking the seat for her party.

Speaking at the local Progressive Conservative election party at the Riverbank Discovery Centre to approximately 75 supporters, Isleifson said the last three and a half years is proof that hard work pays off. He said he hit the doorstep almost daily getting feedback on his performance as an MLA and the government’s decisions.

“I think tonight’s results shows that over the last three and a half years that blue wave is gone and now people are very confident and very comfortable with our government moving forward with a plan that is going to do exactly that, and that’s move Manitoba forward,” he said.

Helwer reclaims Brandon West seat

Reg Helwer has reclaimed his seat as MLA for Brandon West. The Progressive Conservative incumbent won 4,307 votes, beating out his closest challenger NDP candidate Nick Brown, who secured 1,747 votes.

Green party candidate Robert Brown received 744 votes and Liberal candidate Sunday Frangi collecting the remaining 564 votes.

“I’m very happy, our team worked very hard and it was successful in Brandon West. … I’m very honoured that Brandon West voters elected me again to represent them,” Helwer told The Brandon Sun on Tuesday night. “The other candidates ran a very clean and polite campaign, so that’s just a bonus.”

Brandon West lost territory in the north to Spruce Woods in electoral-division redistribution in 2018. The section on Brandon’s North Hill, north of the Assiniboine River, was added to the more rural constituency.

Cullen cruises to victory

There wasn’t much doubt about the outcome of the election in Spruce Woods as Cliff Cullen, the Progressive Conservative incumbent, handily reclaimed his seat in the Manitoba legislature.

Cullen was in Winnipeg Tuesday to share in the PC victory march.

NDP candidate Justin Shannon came in a distant second, followed by Green Party of Manitoba candidate Gordon Beddome and Liberal candidate Jennifer Harcus bringing up the rear.

In a telephone interview from Winnipeg, Cullen thanked those who supported him and gave him their vote of confidence once again.

Texas tipping point? Dems face reality check in GOP bastions

PROSPER, Texas - Thirty new students are from Arizona, and nearly 100 moved from California. But the small town of Prosper, Texas, is expecting more growth — a lot more — so it built a $53 million high school football stadium outside Dallas, just two years after finally getting a Walmart.

The scoreboard is 63 feet (19 metres) tall, the biggest at any Texas high school, and on a Saturday night it blared Aerosmith's "Dream On" as band mom Lisa DeMarco settled into one of the 12,000 seats. She's heard "a few liberals" have moved in but doesn't know any.

By holding Thursday's presidential debate in Houston, Democrats are out to show the rest of the country they can finally win again in Texas, propelled by fast-changing suburbs like Prosper that are beginning to trend more liberal after decades of Republican dominance. But for Democrats, the transformation may not come by 2020.

"It's a red state. I love the Second Amendment part of it, and I don't like the fact there's a lot of people talking blue," said DeMarco, herself a newcomer from Georgia.

How to vote in today’s election

Manitobans head to the polls today to vote in the provincial election.

In Brandon, voters will weigh in at one of three constituencies: Brandon East, Brandon West and Spruce Woods.

Brandon East voters will choose between Progressive Conservative candidate Len Isleifson (incumbent), NDP candidate Lonnie Patterson and Liberal candidate Kim Longstreet.

Brandon West voters have the choice between Progressive Conservative candidate Reg Helwer (incumbent), NDP candidate Nick Brown, Liberal candidate Sunday Frangi and Green Party candidate Robert Brown.

Liberals unveil costed-out party platform

After weeks of promises, Manitoba Liberals on Sunday revealed how much they will all cost and how they plan to pay for them.

The platform paper was released in Winnipeg by Leader Dougald Lamont.

“Hundreds of thousands of Manitobans are going to the polls Tuesday with doubt in their hearts. They can’t trust who they’re voting for is going to fix anything,” Lamont said in a news release.

“The Manitoba Liberal Party is here to show them we can work smarter, invest in growth, keep people healthy, and save the climate — all while balancing the budget.

Pallister fiery at Brandon campaign stop

In a fiery pre-election speech to approximately 100 supporters in Brandon on Friday afternoon, Brian Pallister asked Brandonites to put their trust in him for another four-year mandate.

The leader of the Progressive Conservative party was at the Riverview Curling Club for what is likely his last stop in Brandon before Tuesday’s provincial election.

Pallister touted his government’s action to lower the provincial sales tax by one per cent and build a new school in Brandon — two things he said the previous NDP government promised to do but didn’t.

“This election is about a lot of things,” he said. “It is about trust though, it is about making sure that we get what is promised to us.”

Big night for the NDP

 Greg Selinger may be no Gary Doer, but he can still deliver a majority government.

 Any doubts about Selinger's leadership of the party he inherited from his popular predecessor were erased Tuesday night when he led the NDP to its fourth consecutive majority government.

 Selinger and the NDP won 37 seats, the larges majority in Manitoba history. It is one more than they had prior to the election. They needed 29 for a majority.

 "Something big is happening in Manitoba," a grinning Selinger told a roaring crowd at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. "I've never been so optimistic than I am tonight about the future of Manitoba."

More people voted than in 2007

It turns out voter turnout wasn’t as terrible as first predicted.

As the votes rolled in late Tuesday night, initial numbers suggested just over half of Manitoba voters actually hit the polls.

Better tallies this morning put the number at 57.47 per cent, slightly better than in 2007 when 56.75 per cent of Manitobans cast a ballot. That could be thanks to a significant number of voters who hit advance polls and tight races in several ridings that made voters feel their choice really mattered.

Beaten McFadyen to quit

Hugh McFadyen got more Manitobans to vote Tory on Tuesday than four years ago, but he couldn't improve his party's standing where it counted -- in the legislature.

So, the 44-year-old Conservative leader said it was time to let someone else try.

There were moans among the 150 party workers and supporters at party headquarters Tuesday night as McFadyen announced that he would step down as leader as soon as a replacement could be found.

"The reality is this in politics: You have to deliver bottom-line results if you want to carry on as leader of the party. We didn't get the result that we wanted," he said, with his wife Jennifer, son James, 7, and daughter Rachael, 9, at his side. (It was James' birthday.)