Cathy Heron has won a second term as mayor of St. Albert after defeating newcomer Angela Wood.
When polling stations first started reporting Wood was in the lead, but Heron pulled ahead after five stations reported and continued to gain a lead all night.
Heron earned 6,927 votes, or 39.4 per cent of the vote, while Wood earned 6,328 votes, or 36 per cent of the vote.
Former councillor Bob Russel who also ran for mayor came in with 1,740 votes and mayoral candidate David Letourneau clocked 2,579 votes.
Heron was first elected as mayor in 2017 and served two terms as a councillor before her bid for mayor.
In July, Heron told The Gazette that, if re-elected, she wants to continue to build community by supporting the growth of neighbourhood commercial development, revitalizing the downtown core, and protecting the Sturgeon River from development.
“I’m very cautious about people that are running to change things, because St. Albert is so fantastic as it is,” Heron then told The Gazette.
“It’s about continuing the way we’ve grown over the last 160 years, and strengthening communities.”
Heron also said she wants to focus on developing more defined climate targets for the city.
“We don’t have a solid strategy for not just adapting to climate change, but lowering our emissions,” Heron said.
“We need to do our part.”
Before being elected mayor in 2017, Heron worked as a councillor for two consecutive terms. One aspect from this most recent term Heron said she would want to carry over if re-elected is a collaborative atmosphere.
The results are unofficial and The City of St. Albert will release the final vote count on Friday Oct. 22.
