Despite his third place finish, local MLA Doug Horner said he still believes he can claim the top spot in the Progressive Conservative leadership.
Horner, the MLA for Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert, finished with 8,635 votes in the leadership vote this past weekend, well behind Gary Mar (24,195) and Alison Redford (11,127).
Horner said, despite his position, he is happy where he is at and believes he can still come from behind.
“We are in the top three. We got to where we wanted to be at in the first phase of the race,” he said. “You work hard and I don’t mind being the underdog. I think that is really invigorating our supporters. We have a lot of calls coming in saying, ‘Stay in the race,’ because we have run a good campaign.”
He said there is very little chance he will heed any of the suggestions that he simply drop out of the race before the second ballot.
“I think it is important we stay in the race and, unless something drastic changes in the next few days, that is what we are doing.”
Horner’s had a strong northern base in this race, with much of his support coming from ridings in northern Alberta, especially in ridings where he received the endorsement of the local MLA.
He claimed 329 votes in St. Albert, well out ahead of Mar with 210. Horner's own riding of Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert leaned heavily in his direction. In his home riding, he took 550 votes, well ahead of Mar at 138 and Redford at 90.
Horner also took in big support from Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock, where he had the support of MLA and Legislative Assembly Speaker Ken Kowalski. There, he garnered 438 votes, with Mar again his closest competitor with only 78.
In Athabasca-Redwater, where MLA Jeff Johnson endorsed him, Horner had 441 votes, again with Mar a distant second at 155.
In Lac La Biche-St. Paul, where Horner had the endorsement of local MLA Ray Danyluk, he took a whopping 1,089 votes.
Horner said the local MLA support was obviously a factor in these ridings, but he said his campaign worked hard in those areas as well and he is expecting even greater results in those ridings on Oct. 1.
“I think we expected to have a bigger voter turnout in those areas and that is something we are going to focus on.”
In contrast to his big northern wins, few Calgarians seemed interested in what Horner had to offer.
In Calgary-Cross, he took only four votes. In Calgary-Foothills, he took just two votes. And in Calgary-Montrose, he had only a single supporter.
Horner said he believes the people of Calgary simply don’t know him well enough, which he hopes to change in the next few weeks.
“We know that we have some groundwork to make up, and that is invigorating and we are going to push hard.”
Horner said he also hasn’t discounted Alison Redford, the other candidate in the race, and said he will have to run against both his challengers, not simply run against Mar.
“There are three candidates in the race — there is no question about that.”
