Andrea Horwath

Andrea Horwath (born October 24, 1962) is a Canadian politician who has been the 58th mayor of Hamilton since 2022.

The party won more than 20% of the popular vote for the first time since 1995 and almost doubled its seats to elect 17 members of the legislature.

The election also resulted in the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty being reduced to a minority government with the NDP holding the balance of power.

Horwath was first elected in 1997, when she won a seat on Hamilton City Council.

In the Canadian federal election of 1997, she was the NDP candidate against incumbent Liberal Stan Keyes in the riding of Hamilton West.

Although unsuccessful, her second-place finish was a significant improvement on previous NDP efforts in the riding, and gave her an increased level of prominence in the city.

Later in 1997, she was elected to Hamilton City Council for Ward Two, outpolling two incumbents who had represented the area for more than 20 years.

Horwath's new Hamilton Centre riding included approximately half of her former riding as well as a portion of the former Hamilton West riding where she had run federally in 1997.

It also included her entire former city council ward.

In the lead up to the campaign, Horwath was expected to face Hamilton West Liberal incumbent Judy Marsales.

However, Marsales opted not to run for another term, and Horwath easily defeated Liberal candidate Steve Ruddick on election day.

She emerged as a prominent voice for the political left in the city, and was re-elected to council in 2000 and 2003.

During her three terms as city councillor, she chaired the solid-waste-management committee and the municipal non-profit housing corporation.

In 2004, she was elected as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton Centre, a seat she would hold until 2022.

Owing to her roots in Hamilton, Horwath is known by the moniker "Steeltown Scrapper".

Horwath was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a 2004 by-election in the then-extant provincial riding of Hamilton East, defeating Liberal candidate Ralph Agostino to succeed the deceased Liberal member Dominic Agostino, Ralph's brother.

Winning 63.6 per cent of the vote, up from the NDP's 29.4 per cent in that riding six months earlier, her landslide victory boosted the NDP's seat count over the threshold for official party status in the legislature, and helped give the federal New Democratic Party a bounce in Hamilton that would continue into the federal election shortly thereafter.

In the 2007 election, Horwath ran in the new riding of Hamilton Centre, due to redistricting that divided her former Hamilton East riding between Hamilton Centre and the new riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek.

On November 7, 2008, Horwath officially launched her campaign to win the party's leadership.

Horwath served as the leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2009 to 2022 and as the leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario from 2018 to 2022.

Horwath was elected as the leader Ontario NDP at the party's 2009 leadership convention, and led the party through four provincial elections, before resigning in 2022.

She is the first woman to lead the NDP, and the third woman (after Lyn McLeod and Kathleen Wynne) to serve as leader of a party with official party status in Ontario.

The leadership election was held March 6–8, 2009.

Horwath led on the first two ballots, and won on the third ballot with 60.4% of the vote defeating Peter Tabuns, Gilles Bisson and Michael Prue.

The 2011 provincial election saw a rise in support for the NDP under Horwath's leadership.

In April 2012, Horwath passed a leadership review at the party's convention with 76% support.

In the 2014 provincial election, the NDP was able to maintain its seat count of 21 at dissolution despite the loss of three seats in Toronto, but lost the balance of power when the Liberals took a majority win in the election.

Horwath has faced criticism from some party members and progressives for running a populist campaign which they described as right-wing.

During the 2018 provincial election, Horwath led the Ontario NDP to official opposition status after 23 years without government or official opposition status.

The results of the 2022 provincial election, after which the Ontario NDP remained the official opposition, led to Horwath announcing her intention to resign as the leader of the Ontario NDP on the night of June 2, 2022.

Her resignation took effect on June 28, 2022.

On July 26, 2022, Horwath announced her candidacy for mayor of Hamilton, and resigned her seat in the provincial legislature on August 15, 2022.

She was elected mayor on October 24, 2022, and was sworn in on November 15.

Horwath was born and raised in Stoney Creek.

Her father Andrew, an ethnic Hungarian, had immigrated to Canada from Slovakia, and worked on the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company plant in Oakville, Ontario.

Her mother, Diane, is of French and Irish descent.

Horwath has a Bachelor of Arts degree from McMaster University.

While her initial program was in human resources, she was drawn to labour studies.

She worked part-time as a waitress to pay her way through university.

After graduating, Horwath worked in literacy training, legal-aid advocacy and "community organization".