British ColumbiaThe number of people looking to unseat Ken Sim as Mayor of Vancouver in next October’s local elections seemingly grows by the week. Amanda Burrows latest to run for OneCity’s nomination, while COPE says it will begin its mayoral process soonJustin McElroy · CBC News · Posted: Dec 04, 2025 6:53 PM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Amanda Burrows launches her campaign for the OneCity mayoral nomination in Vancouver on Monday. She currently leads Downtown Eastside social services organization First United, and is among a growing number of candidates seeking to unseat incumbent Mayor Ken Sim. (Ben Nelms/CBC)The number of people looking to unseat Ken Sim as mayor of Vancouver in the October 2026 municipal elections seemingly grows by the week. On Monday, OneCity Vancouver — a left-wing party with one elected councillor — had a new candidate enter its race.First United executive director Amanda Burrows will now compete against Brightside Community Homes CEO William Azaroff for the party’s nomination, with a vote scheduled in February. “Vancouver cannot just be a place for the rich, it must be a place for everybody,” said Burrows, who has advocated for marginalized groups in the Downtown Eastside for many years, at her campaign announcement in an Indian restaurant in South Vancouver.Amanda Burrows has been critical of Sim’s policies regarding the Downtown Eastside in the past. (Ben Nelms/CBC)Later that day, COPE — a different left-wing party, also with one elected councillor — announced they were also seeking applications for their own party’s mayoral nomination.“We were getting the impression during the byelection that there’s a huge untapped group of people who wanted something to be excited about and something to believe in, and they wanted to see that kind of left populist politics,” said COPE co-chair Shawn Vulliez.“With the candidates that are approaching us and that we’re approaching, there’s going to be an exciting and fun election.”While the individual parties and candidates are excited, it raises the question: what happened to the negotiations between Vancouver’s progressive parties to field a single candidate for mayor next year?WATCH | Vancouver’s left-wing parties yet to unite around one candidate:Will Vancouver’s left-wing parties unite around one mayoral candidate?This week another person entered the race to be the next mayor of Vancouver — and this time, they came from a party that already has one possible candidate. Justin McElroy on how the competition to unseat Ken Sim is growing— and the risks that brings for the city’s left-wing parties.Negotiations still happeningWhile OneCity and COPE, along with the Green Party, have been in talks for months, ultimately each party decided they wanted to hold their own internal process with the hopes they could find a mayoral candidate that captures the imagination of voters. “Every party has the right to run a mayor, have their own primary, put their best options forward, put their narrative forward, and see what people are going to pick up and be excited about,” said Vulliez. All three parties have told CBC News that they continue to be in discussion with one another, particularly when it comes to council candidates.In the 2022 election, 23 candidates from six different progressive parties ran for 10 council seats, only winning three of them.LISTEN | Justin McElroy and Stephen Quinn discuss the growing 2026 Vancouver election field:This is Vancouver27:08Vancouver’s 2026 mayoral election becomes more crowdedThis week, Vancouver’s next mayoral election added one more candidate and one more political party. CBC’s Justin McElroy joins Stephen Quinn to talk about who’s in the race now — and if there is danger of the left-wing in this city splitting the vote.Organizers with all three parties have also said they could imagine a scenario where they would support a different party’s mayoral candidate closer to the election. But as University of B.C. political scientist Stewart Prest points out, there’s no guarantee such a “Plan B” would come to fruition. Stewart Prest, a UBC political science lecturer, says it could be risky for Vancouver’s left-wing parties to only coalesce around a candidate close to the election. (Jon Hernandez/CBC)“This is something of a high-risk strategy … if they’re really intent on ensuring that one of their own gets elected,” he said.“The longer we have multiple names in the race, the more it creates the possibility of nobody [breaking] out, or someone [outside] the progressive candidates emerging as a clear contender for Mr. Sim, considering we have other more middle-of-the-road candidates.” Who else is running?Candidates looking to appeal to a centrist voter base include Rebecca Bligh of Vote Vancouver and Kareem Allam of the Vancouver Liberals, both of whom are already campaigning and holding fundraising events.In addition, TEAM Vancouver and the Conservative Electors Association both say they are planning to field their own candidates, though they have not yet set a timeline.Rebecca Bligh, left, and Kareem Allam, right, are both former Sim allies who are now running against him. (Ben Nelms/CBC, Radio-Canada)For his part, Sim has said he plans to seek re-election, and his ABC party continues to campaign on social media.Meanwhile, there are other shoes that still have to drop for Vancouver’s progressive parties. Green Party Coun. Pete Fry has been endorsed by his party to run for mayor and has held exploratory events, but has not made a decision yet. And while nobody has immediately announced their intention to run for COPE’s mayoral nomination, Coun. Sean Orr, who had previously said he was not interested in the position, told CBC News the door was ever so slightly open.“I’m not ruling anything out explicitly, but I want what is best for Vancouver, the party, and the left,” he said in a text. Though “best for the left”, as the first stage of the 2026 campaign has shown, can mean different things to different people.WATCH | Greens’ Pete Fry considering mayoral run:Vancouver Coun. Pete Fry considers run for Vancouver mayorIn the same week that one Vancouver councillor announced her candidacy for mayor, another one is thinking about stepping in as well — but as Justin McElroy reports, Green Coun. Pete Fry’s possible entry would force other left-wing parties to make big decisions.ABOUT THE AUTHORJustin is the Municipal Affairs Reporter for CBC Vancouver, covering local political stories throughout British Columbia.
Number of candidates hoping to unseat Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim grows as does vote splitting fears
