How Alvin Tedjo defied the polls to win Mississauga's mayoral race

In a major upset, Alvin Tejo will be the next mayor of Mississauga. Today, the city of Mississauga has made a clear and historic choice to demand a change at City Hall. Beating out the incumbent Carolyn Parrish and former mayor Bonnie Crombie. According to the unofficial results, Alvin Tejo was elected with more than 74,000 votes, which made up almost 39% of the total ballots that were cast in this year's election. Alvin Tejo addressed the public for the very first time since becoming the mayor-elect, and he took a moment to really reflect on what this victory meant to him. 75,000 votes is quite a lot. You know, those are significant numbers in a competitive race. I'm not taking anything for granted, though. It's important that we're working with all members of council and members of the public and to continue this journey together. What makes this race such an upset is the fact that when you look at the polls leading up to it, Tejo was never in the lead. Going back to August, Alvin Tejo was polling in fourth. And then most recently, the highest he ranked was second, and that was heading into the final weekend before the election. So how did the polls get this wrong? The average error across the board historically is about 9%. That's average error per candidate. It is a challenge, and when people come at us and say, oh, you got this wrong, you got that wrong, there's also, you know, this is not unusual for municipal politics. people forget. In the interim four years, people forget these things do tend to happen. There are big swings and big changes towards the end of any election. But as people say, the only poll that matters is the one on election day. And we spoke to a number of Mississauga residents here at Celebration Square that are quite happy for what an Alvin Tejo-led Mississauga is going to look like. I'm happy that the city has embraced some change as far as the voters go because it's been so long with the same people, and they've done a great job, but it's time for change. New blood is always good for our community. As for Tejo's opponents, Parrish said in her concession speech yesterday that she was at peace with the results, and that she was proud of her time as mayor of Mississauga. And as for Crombie, questions still remain about her future. This is the second major political loss that she's experienced in 20 months. She also lost in the provincial election last year as the leader of the Ontario Liberals. So it will be fascinating to see what's in store for Bonnie Crombie in the future. Inauguration Day is set for November 15th. Nav Nanwa, CBC News, Mississauga.