Crowded field of 12 candidates will battle for ward seat in Mississauga

With six weeks left until candidate nominations close, one ward in particular in Mississauga is already offering 2026 municipal election voters a crowded field of hopefuls from which to choose.

With 12 people entered in the Ward 7 race as of Tuesday afternoon, twice as many candidates as any other Mississauga contest, it appears to be a wide open competition for the council seat that represents residents and businesses in the south-central part of the city that’s anchored by Cooksville.

Current Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla decided early last month to enter the mayoral contest, which will see six candidates — including the incumbent Carolyn Parrish — battle it out for the city’s top elected position.

Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo, David Shaw, Mike Matulewicz and Olivia Gannon are also vying for the mayor’s seat.

Shaw ran in both the 2024 mayoral byelection and the 2022 municipal election while Matulewicz was also among the 20 candidates to run in the city’s mayoral byelection two years ago.

Parrish won the mayoral byelection in June 2024 to succeed outgoing mayor Bonnie Crombie, who left to join the Ontario Liberal Party and run for premier.

The Ward 5 contest in Mississauga also features six candidates, including incumbent Natalie Hart.

The municipal election will be held Oct. 26. Candidate nominations opened May 1 and continue until 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.

Candidates who’ve registered to run for Mississauga city council ward seats, as of Tuesday afternoon (July 7), are:

• Stephen Dasko — Ward 1 (incumbent)
• Leeann Cole — Ward 2
• Ross Kutisker-Jacobson — Ward 2
• Ananya Majumder — Ward 2
• Chris Fonseca — Ward 3 (incumbent)
• Kim Pines — Ward 3
• Stjepan Vukovic — Ward 3
• Mendi Kabashi — 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)
• Gurcharan Guleria — Ward 6
• Amir Ali — Ward 7
• Joel Binda — Ward 7
• Maisa Salhia — Ward 7
• Leslie Zurek-Silvestri — Ward 7
• Asha Falinski — Ward 7
• Ahsan Khokhar — Ward 7
• Naila Saeed — Ward 7
• Amitabh Srivastava — Ward 7
• George Tavares — Ward 7
• Hazra Wade — Ward 7
• Gerald Adad — Ward 7
• Keshav Mandadi — Ward 7
• Matt Mahoney — Ward 8 (incumbent)
• Rahul Mehta — Ward 8
• Martin Reid — Ward 9 (incumbent)
• Ramsha Haq — Ward 9
• Anwar Knight — Ward 9
• Mohammad Shabbeer — Ward 9
• Syed Jaffery — Ward 9
• Sue McFadden — Ward 10 (incumbent)
• Suha Hashim — Ward 10
• Brad Butt — Ward 11 (incumbent)
• Dev Vashi — Ward 11