Candidate for mayor drops out of the 2026 race in Mississauga 

A mayoral candidate who was taking his third run at the top elected post in Mississauga has dropped out of the 2026 race, deciding instead to seek a seat on city council.

Unsuccessful in runs for mayor both in 2022 and again in the June 2024 Mississauga mayoral byelection, George Tavares was among eight hopefuls vying for the position in this year’s municipal election until he removed himself from the ballot on Thursday.

Tavares subsequently entered the competition for the Ward 7 council seat in Mississauga, which became a wide-open contest after the area’s current councillor, Dipika Damerla, threw her hat into the mayoral ring on Wednesday afternoon.

Joel Binda, Asha Falinski, Maisa Salhia and Leslie Zurek-Silvestri are the other candidates entered in the Ward 7 race as of late Thursday afternoon.

First elected to city council in 2018 when she defeated 11 other candidates for the Ward 7 seat, Damerla joins Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo as current councillors taking on the incumbent, Mayor Carolyn Parrish.

Tedjo was first elected to city council in 2022, fending off four others who were vying for the Ward 2 seat.

Both councillors also ran in Mississauga’s June 2024 mayoral byelection, won by Parrish (43,494 votes), who vacated the Ward 5 council seat to run for mayor.

Tedjo (35,005 votes) was runner-up to Parrish while Damerla (27,119 votes) finished third and Ward 1 Coun. Stephen Dasko (22,408 votes) placed fourth in the race to succeed former mayor Bonnie Crombie, who left in early 2024 to lead the Ontario Liberals.

In total, 20 candidates ran in the mayoral byelection in 2024.

Dasko, meanwhile, is running in 2026 to retain the Ward 1 seat on council.

In addition to Parrish, Tedjo and Damerla, four others are entered in the competition to become mayor of Canada’s seventh-largest city.

David Shaw, Mike Matulewicz, Rahul Mehta and Olivia Gannon have all officially thrown their hats into the ring for a shot at earning the top elected post in Mississauga.

Shaw also ran in both the 2024 mayoral byelection and the 2022 municipal election.

Mehta, meanwhile, ran for the Ward 8 seat on city council in 2022 and Matulewicz was also among the 20 candidates to run in the city’s mayoral byelection two years ago.

The 2026 municipal election will be held on Oct. 26. Candidate nominations opened May 1 and continue untl Aug. 21 at 2 p.m.

For more information on who’s running, how to become a candidate and the election in general, visit the city’s election page online.

Other candidates who’ve registered to run for Mississauga city council, as of Thursday afternoon (June 4), are:

• Stephen Dasko — Ward 1 (incumbent)
• Leeann Cole — Ward 2
• Chris Fonseca — Ward 3 (incumbent)
• Kim Pines — Ward 3
• Stjepan Vukovic — Ward 3
• John Kovac — Ward 4 (incumbent)
• Natalie Hart — Ward 5 (incumbent)
• Ismail Bawa — Ward 5
• Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal — Ward 5
• Aruna Anand — Ward 5
• Raghavan Babu Bhogaiah — Ward 5
• Vipan Singh Mehta — Ward 5
• Joe Horneck — Ward 6 (incumbent)
• Joel Binda — Ward 7
• Maisa Salhia — Ward 7
• Leslie Zurek-Silvestri — Ward 7
• Asha Falinski — Ward 7
• Matt Mahoney — Ward 8 (incumbent)
• Martin Reid — Ward 9 (incumbent)
• Ramsha Haq — Ward 9
• Anwar Knight — Ward 9
• Mohammad Shabbeer — Ward 9
• Sue McFadden — Ward 10 (incumbent)
• Brad Butt — Ward 11 (incumbent)
• Dev Vashi — Ward 11