Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has announced his bid for the nomination in the Edmonton-Strathcona riding, aiming to secure former Alberta premier Rachel Notley’s riding after taking over the helm of the party last year.
Nenshi announced he would run to become an MLA in a post to X on Friday. He said that Rachel Notley’s retirement has provided him the opportunity for his first foray into the legislature. Prior to becoming the Alberta NDP leader, Nenshi had served as Calgary’s mayor between 2010 and 2021.
“This doesn’t mean I’m leaving Calgary behind! While still proudly Calgarian, I’m already dividing my time between the two cities, and I’m looking forward to learning more about Edmonton,” said Nenshi.
The Edmonton-Strathcona seat was the second safest in the province in the 2023 provincial election, despite the NDP losing to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party. Notley won the seat with 79.7% of the vote share in the seat – a 62.4% higher margin of the total vote than the UCP candidate.
Despite the Alberta NDP’s defeat by former premier Jason Kenney in 2019, the Edmonton-Strathcona seat was again the safest for the party, seeing a 72.3% vote share and 55.2% margin.
Notley held the seat between 2008 and 2024. The last time a conservative represented the riding was Julian Koziak in 1986 with the now-defunct PC Alberta party.
The 2023 provincial election saw the Alberta NDP win only two seats outside Edmonton and Calgary, in Banff-Kananaskis and Lethbridge-West.
The Alberta NDP will nominate a candidate for the upcoming byelection in Edmonton-Strathcona on Jan. 22. Nenshi is currently the only candidate eligible for nomination. If no other approved candidates seek the nomination three weeks before the meeting, he will automatically be granted the candidacy.
Nenshi became leader of the Alberta NDP following a leadership contest in June 2024, where he won on the first ballot with 86% of the vote.
In Dec. 2023, the Alberta NDP had 16,224 members. During the leadership race that Naheed Nenshi won, the number allegedly surged to 85,144. However, Elections Alberta later cited the Alberta NDP for inflating its membership numbers.
Before Nenshi’s announcement, an Alberta minister called out Nenshi for celebrating his “first legislative session.”
“Nenshi never served one day in the Legislature because he refuses to run in an election, to become an MLA,” said Alberta Minister of Transportation Devin Dreeshen.
Smith previously criticized Nenshi for not running in the Lethbridge-West byelection, which the NDP won. She has until June 30 to call a byelection in Edmonton-Strathcona.
The Alberta NDP Leader was formerly elected as Calgary mayor in 2010 with 40% of the vote and re-elected in 2013 with 74% of the vote. In 2017, he won a third term with 51% of the vote. However, he did not seek re-election in the 2021 election when Jyoti Gondek took power.
