4 reasons why Pete Fry is the new mayor of Vancouver

4 reasons why Pete Fry is the new mayor of Vancouver — and 1 reason Ken Sim lost

Incumbent Sim was vulnerable in this election — and Fry was seen as a change candidate

Two-term councillor Pete Fry emerged victorious in Vancouver's mayoral election on Saturday, defeating eight other candidates — including incumbent Ken Sim — to become Vancouver's 42nd mayor.

But why did Fry emerge victorious? And in a province where incumbent mayors seeking re-election win approximately 80 per cent of the time, why did Sim lose?

Here are a few reasons, based on reporting before and during the campaign, and from people with direct knowledge of the Fry and Sim campaigns.

Pete Fry to become Vancouver's 1st Green mayor, CBC News projects

At the end of the day, Vancouver's political culture tilts to the left, and did so again on Saturday.

Over the past 25 years, the city has only elected a single Conservative MP to parliament, and provincially has elected a majority of NDP candidates in all but one election.

Candidates who talk about low taxes and being tough on crime can win — as Sim did in 2022 or Sam Sullivan in 2005 — but it's a rarity in Vancouver.

Pete Fry unseats Ken Sim, will be Vancouver's next mayor

Fry was the only candidate to call himself a progressive and had the implicit support of other self-described progressive parties.

If you knew nothing about the details of Vancouver's politics beyond its historical culture, you would have expected Fry to win on Saturday — and that turned out to be the case.

Fry became the change candidate

Sim was always vulnerable in this election, based both on the results of the 2025 council byelection — where his two candidates received less than 15 per cent of the vote — and current polls that suggested a clear majority of residents thought Vancouver was heading in the wrong direction.

On the other hand, with four well-known opposition candidates, there was a chance the vote could have split in a way that would have allowed Sim to be re-elected while still getting less than the 51 per cent he received in 2022.

‘It’s been the highlight of my life’: Ken Sim reflects on his run as Vancouver mayor

That (mostly) didn't happen. A popular meme a couple of months ago pointed out that the three other opposition candidates had either run with Sim in the past or managed his winning 2022 election campaign.

While Kareem Allam, Colleen Hardwick and Rebecca Bligh ran consistent campaigns over the past year, they never gained momentum with the public, allowing Fry to be the change candidate almost by default.

Longtime Canadian journalist Paul Wells has a couple of famous "rules" in Canadian elections: "the candidate in the best mood wins," and "the candidate who auditions for the role of opposition leader will get the job."

Fry ran an optimistic campaign. He talked about fighting for the little guy, made quirky videos about his past as a punk rocker, and lamented the tone at city hall the previous four years.

"I love this city," said Fry to CBC News shortly after his victory speech.

"I want to see us celebrate it, and really enjoy it."

Vancouver Greens mayoral candidate reacts to strong lead over Ken Sim

Sim, meanwhile, regularly talked about his rivals as dangerous to the city's safety, while framing his re-election campaign about not letting Vancouver return to the dysfunction that characterized city hall under Kennedy Stewart.

The most optimistic candidate doesn't always win the day. But in this case, the rule held.

One of the knocks against Fry's candidacy was a relative lack of financing compared to the big ABC Vancouver machine. There were questions over whether the Green Party, which has traditionally eschewed big-money politics, could organize a successful win for mayor.

Turns out, they could — with a little help from their friends.

Fry is seen announcing his mayoral run in January — in a bid that faced hurdles at the time. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

COPE door-knockers were visible throughout the city last month. OneCity used its financial advantages to release plenty of videos.

While they could never explicitly endorse Fry, the advantages of three parties organizing against Sim on a broadly similar message clearly worked and will put pressure on the city's self-described "progressive" parties to continue co-operation agreements going forward.

But Pete Fry didn't just win the election — Ken Sim lost it.

Sim went from 51 per cent of the vote in his winning election four years ago to around 34 per cent this time around, losing a full third of his base of support. As final votes were being counted, it appeared that just one ABC councillor would be re-elected, and the party would be shut out of the school board and park board.

That will be discussed for some time — but to many observers, the pivot by ABC Vancouver in their rhetoric over the last four years played a big part.

Sim is seen giving his concession speech on Saturday. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

A 2022 campaign that highlighted hiring nurses and being able to drink in parks was replaced by a 2026 campaign intensely focused on safety and property tax freezes.

"They ran a very broadly centrist campaign last time," said former Squamish Nation councillor Khelsilem.

"However, this election, it was a much more right-wing campaign that would appeal to a right-wing or conservative base, and I think the attacks on the centre-left galvanized a lot of voters."

Fry has been given a major mandate as he looks forward to four years at the helm. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)

That's a story some people will litigate in the days and weeks ahead.

Fry has different immediate priorities — from organizing a transition team, figuring out a budget for next year that will likely look vastly different than the priorities staff have worked on for months, and wrapping his head around how to work with a provincial government that could be entirely different in one week.

But it's a challenge he's been given a big mandate to start working toward.

"I'm very excited about my role as mayor, leading a mixed council," Fry said. "And doing what we can do to better the lives of all Vancouverites."

Justin is the Municipal Affairs Reporter for CBC Vancouver, covering local political stories throughout British Columbia.