You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
Victory cake. Conservative Chris Lewis cuts into something sweet following his third consecutive federal election win at Michigan Diner in Essex on Monday night, April 28, 2025.Photo by Millar Holmes-Hill /Windsor Star
Article content
Chris Lewis is headed back to Ottawa to represent Essex in the House of Commons.
The incumbent Conservative candidate clinched his third consecutive federal election win Monday night in the riding of Essex, reinforcing the region’s Tory stronghold in southwestern Ontario.
With 204 of 278 polls reporting, Lewis had 24,843 votes (60 per cent), comfortably leading Liberal challenger Chris Sutton (13,701 votes or 33 per cent) and the NDP’s Lori Wightman with 2,380 votes (5.7 per cent).
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
Get exclusive access to the Windsor Star ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
Get exclusive access to the Windsor Star ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Access articles from across Canada with one account.
Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
Enjoy additional articles per month.
Get email updates from your favourite authors.
THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Access articles from across Canada with one account
Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments
Enjoy additional articles per month
Get email updates from your favourite authors
Sign In or Create an Account
or
Article content
“I am excited to get to work but tonight is a celebration for Essex and a celebration for the region,” Lewis told reporters Monday night among a room full of family, friends, and supporters at Michigan Diner in Essex.
“I know that Essex can celebrate tonight because they’ve got someone who is going back that knows how to get the job done. If there was ever a time that was vitally important to send somebody back to Ottawa … now is the time.”
As he heads back to Parliament Hill, Lewis said tackling the cost of living and boosting affordable housing locally will be his top priorities.
“We’re going to continue to pressure the government to ensure that the carbon tax is taken off of everything,” he said., speaking after early projections had the Liberals forming the next government
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Chris Sutton, a farmer and millwright, campaigned on key priorities such as affordability, worker protection, health care improvements, and rural investment for the region’s greenhouse and farming sector.
“It’s been an experience,” Sutton said. “We had a really great team of volunteers.
“We’re hoping for the best,” Sutton added, while surrounded by family and friends as he awaited more results. “And like I keep saying, it’s like Christmastime, waiting to open the presents and not knowing what’s in there.
“A little bit of anxiety but we’ll get through the night and hopefully the result is what we want.”
Sutton said he ran “to give Essex a voice again.
“I heard from a lot of people while I was campaigning (that) they didn’t feel they were being represented properly,” he said.
“So that’s what really drove us to really work as hard as we did, was to see if we could flip the switch.”
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
NDP candidate Lori Wightman described her first federal campaign as a big job, but said it was a tremendous honour to run for the riding of Essex.
“This riding is huge, just gigantic, and I was in every municipality,” Wightman told the Star. “I met so many wonderful people and had so many good conversations.”
Wightman, who held her election night party at Tailgater’s in Essex, said she’d need to take a little time to consider future runs for elected office.
“I always, in my life, never plan too far ahead so I need to take a little time and kind of regroup.”
Essex — a riding that takes in the communities of Amherstburg, LaSalle, Essex, Kingsville, and part of Lakeshore (everything east of Puce Road) — has been a political battleground between the Liberals and Conservatives, with occasional success for the NDP.
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Read More
Trump, housing, farming — Essex candidates lay out competing visions at Windsor election debate
Federal election 2025: Essex riding a mix of rural, smalltown
Lewis has held the riding since 2019. In 2021, he won with 41 per cent of the vote. His competitor, NDP candidate Tracey Ramsey, the incumbent, received 32 per cent, followed by Liberal candidate Audrey Festeryga with 15 per cent.
Prior to Ramsey’s win in 2015, the riding was held by Conservative Jeff Watson from 2004 to 2014. Liberal Susan Whelan had previously held the riding since 1993.
Elections Canada data, drawn from a 2021 census, shows the Essex riding has a population of 131,691.
