The smoke has now cleared from a last-minute flurry of filing, and now we have candidates for this fall's municipal elections.
The deadline to file for the October 26 vote was 2 p.m. on Friday.
As of 5 p.m. on Friday, the following candidates had declared their intention to run for mayor and council in Essex County, according to the respective municipalities' official websites.
Amherstburg
First-term Mayor Michael Prue is asking voters for another term.
There are three challengers to the office, including Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb. Also running for mayor are Frank Cerasa, a candidate in 2022, and Bill Fryer.
Former councillor Frank DiPasquale had also filed, but has since withdrawn his name.
Councillor Linden Crain has declared his plans to run for the now-open deputy mayor's seat. The other candidate is Bill Petruniak.
There are 15 candidates vying for the five at-large seats on Town Council, with three seats open. Incumbents Donald McArthur and Diane Pouget are not seeking re-election.
Incumbents Molly Allaire and Peter Courtney each seek another four-year term.
The other council candidates are Armand Anderson, T.J. Botsford, Keith Boussey, Frank Cleminson, Jen DeLuca, Lorne Dupuis, Sonya Elliott, Wes Ewer, Saurabh Katara, Lena Lazanja, Shawn Leblanc, Stephanie Pouget-Papak, and Dhaval Prajapati.
An additional candidate, Tony Pietrangelo, withdrew his name.
Essex
First-term Mayor Sherry Bondy is running for a second term. She has one challenger, Trevor Menard.
Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley has been acclaimed for another four years.
For Town Council, Ward 1 incumbents Joe Garon and Katie McGuire-Blais have filed for reelection for the two seats. There are three challengers, Andrew George, Joe Groves, and former Councillor Randy Voakes.
In Ward 2, incumbent Kim Verbeek is running against Ben Orlando and Justin Power-Colenutt for the single seat.
For the two seats in Ward 3, incumbent Jason Matyi is running again, but the other, Brad Allard, is not. Five candidates, former Councillors Chris Vander Dohlen and Ron Rogers, along with Bill Baker, Kyle Lefaive, and Corey St-Onge, have submitted their paperwork.
For the lone seat in Ward 4, incumbent Rodney Hammond wants another term. Also running are Rachael Mills and Deb Peters.
Kingsville
There are four candidates running for mayor, starting with first-term incumbent Dennis Rogers.
The three challengers are Councillor Thomas Neufeld, who is looking for a promotion, Mary Ellen Havlick, and Roshan Nallaratnam.
For deputy mayor, incumbent Kimberly DeYong seeks reelection, and is being challenged by Robert Brando.
For the five at-large Town Council seats, there are nine candidates. Incumbents Tony Gaffan, Debby Jarvis-Chausse, and Sheri Lowrie are seeking reelection. Another, Larry Patterson, is not, so there will be two open seats.
The others running include Janice Durocher, Adam Edwards, Stephen Higgins, Sam Hrutka, John Musselman, and Rita Testa-Plancke.
Lakeshore
Mayor Tracey Bailey is looking for a second term.
There are two others running for the office. They are local philanthropist Sam Sinjari and Argo Pace.
Deputy Mayor Kirk Walstedt has filed for reelection. He will compete with Renay Grant and Dave Monk, who wants his old job back.
Ryan McNamara is asking for four more years as Ward 1 Councillor. He's being challenged by Ryan Lahoud.
In Ward 2, incumbent Michael Hoffman will face off against Owen Crampsie, Ken Poisson and Joseph Qi.
The Ward 3 seat is open as incumbent Kelsey Santarossa is running for Ward 4 Councillor. There are four contestants, Mike Gruszka, Rafat Jafri, Moe Seddik, and Kelly Wasylyk.
Joining Santarossa in the Ward 4 race are Dale Dobson, Dave Gabriele, and Travis Jacques.
Ward 5 incumbent Ian Ruston is so far being challenged by Tim McDermott, who lost the seat in 2022 by nine votes.
Larissa Vogler is running again in Ward 6. She is being faced by Louis Tremblay.
LaSalle
There are three people running for mayor, including first-term incumbent Crystal Meloche.
Meloche is being challenged by Shaun Dass and Michael Macri.
For deputy mayor, longtime councillor Michael Akpata has filed his reelection papers. Also running are Tory McKay and Simon Jacques.
There are five at-large Town Council places, with 13 candidates. Among them are all five incumbents, Terry Burns, Mark Carrick, Jeff Renaud, Anita Riccio-Spagnuolo, and Mike Seguin, who is running for a complete term after winning a byelection to succeed the late Sue Desjarlais.
The challengers are Jason Belanger, Brad Krewench, David Lucier, Collin Mason, Chris Matis, Robert Moore, Kate Paddon, and Ivana White.
Leamington
Mayor Hilda MacDonald, who is also the Essex County Warden, is running for a third term. She is being challenged by Cris Biron.
The deputy mayor's seat is open after Larry Verbeke chose to step away after 16 years on council. There are two competitors, Councillor Paul Tiessen and Dean Wilkinson.
The at-large council has five available seats, with the four remaining incumbents running for re-election, Anthony Abraham, Bill Dunn, Heather Latam, and Tim Wilkinson.
There are ten challengers for the council. They are John Biekx, Carol Bell, Renee Knight, Bruce Medcalf, Rielly O'Shaughnessy, Mandi Quiring, Oscar Ramirez, Corey Robertson, Chad Robinson, and Nigel Williams.
Pelee Island
Mayor Cathy Miller is not running again. There are two candidates running to succeed her, Councillor David DeLellis, and Jaak Purres.
The top vote-getter for Pelee Island Council serves as deputy mayor.
There are eight candidates running for council, Brandon Alliet, Stephanie Briggs-Crawford, current Deputy Mayor Dayne Malloch, Dave Moulton, Matthew Pearson, Dean Robillard, Christopher Watson, and Jeff Wiper.
Another council candidate, Patricia Fell, has withdrawn.
Tecumseh
Windsor-Essex's longest active mayor, Gary McNamara, wants voters to give him another four years. He was first elected in 2003.
Deputy Mayor Joe Bachetti is challenging McNamara for the top job.
With that position open, Ward 5 Councillor Tania Jobin is looking for a promotion. She will face Larry Morand.
There will be three new faces on Town Council.
Ward 1 incumbent Alicia Higgison is not running again. Darrin Drouillard, a former Blackburn Media Windsor engineer, is running against Doug Hilton.
In Ward 2, incumbent James Dorner is seeking another term, with two challengers, Mike Lamoureux and Antoni Tambunan. A third challenger, Suanne Hawkins, has withdrawn her candidacy.
Ward 3 incumbent Rick Tonial is not seeking another term. There are three candidates to succeed him, Leo Demarce, Chris Elliott, and Alex Ilijoski, the NDP candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore in last year's federal election.
In the race for Ward 4, former deputy mayor and Windsor-Tecumseh MP Cheryl Hardcastle is attempting a political return, facing incumbent Councillor Brian Houston.
For the vacant Ward 5 seat, Marisa Nabbout is running against Michael Strong.
