Russ Wyatt, facing two sexual assault charges and three drug charges, will no longer represent Transcona on city council, after suffering his first electoral defeat in more than two decades at the hands of community centre executive Lora Meseman.
Meseman won the east Winnipeg seat in her first bid for political office, running in a five-person race that also included former Transcona councillor Shawn Nason.
“I am very proud and I am very honoured. It’s time, and Transcona has spoken,” Meseman told a room of supporters after her win Wednesday night.
“It’s time for a change. It’s time for a fresh perspective for Transcona.”
Meseman, the executive director of the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centre, ran a campaign focused on recreation. She advocated for an update to the city’s universal funding formula to include direct wage subsidies for paid staff, among other pledges.
Her win marks Wyatt’s first loss since being elected to council in 2002.
With all polls reporting as of 10 p.m., Wyatt was in fourth place, behind Chris Giesbrecht in third and Nason in second. Nathine Dagdick was in fifth.
Wyatt announced he would make another run in Transcona in September, under a shadow of controversy.
He was charged with two counts of sexual assault and three drug-related charges this year, which police say involve two men in separate incidents from 2023 and 2025.
Wyatt maintains his innocence and says he intends to fight the charges in court.
“You try to meet people in Winnipeg and unfortunately, I was a bad judge of character. But I believe in consensual sex, end of story,” Wyatt told reporters Wednesday after his loss.
“I know the truth, and I don’t care what anybody else believes.”
Russ Wyatt with supporters at Dal’s Restaurant and Lounge in Transcona on Wednesday, after the Transcona incumbent came in a distant fourth place in a five-person race. (Kevin Nepitabo/CBC)
Labour leaders and some of Wyatt’s peers on city council denounced his decision to run. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew urged him to step down from council.
That chorus of denouncements led to calls for legislative changes that would give city council a process through which it could remove or suspend a councillor charged with a serious offence.
Currently, the City of Winnipeg’s charter contains no mechanism to remove or suspend a councillor in such cases.
After being re-elected Wednesday night, Mayor Scott Gillingham said he still plans to push the province to change that legislation.
“This is about establishing confidence for the people of Winnipeg. They have to have confidence in their elected officials,” he said.
Speaking with reporters after being re-elected mayor on Wednesday night, Scott Gillingham said he still plans to push the province for legislative changes that would enable city council to remove or suspend a councillor facing charges for serious offences. (Michael Fazio/CBC)
Wyatt won the Transcona seat in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, but did not run in the 2018 election.
Heading into this election, he and North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty were tied as the longest-serving members on Winnipeg city council, with five terms each.
Browaty was re-elected to a sixth term in North Kildonan.
Ran ‘with 2 arms tied behind my back’: Wyatt
Wyatt took a leave from council in early 2018 to seek substance use treatment. A few months later, he was charged with sexual assault. That charge was stayed the following year.
He ran again in 2022, winning his fifth term.
Wyatt kept a low profile on the campaign trail this time around, declining media interviews and sending written statements instead.
“I fought this election not with one arm tied behind my back but with two arms tied behind my back, but we had great volunteers and we worked very hard and we got a message out,” Wyatt said Wednesday night.
“The community has been great to me and I am always very grateful for them for all the years of service.”
WATCH | ‘I don’t think you’ve seen the last of Russ Wyatt’:
‘I don’t think you’ve seen the last of Russ Wyatt’
Incumbent Russ Wyatt takes questions from reporters Wednesday after losing his Winnipeg council seat, explaining why he chose to run again in Transcona under a shadow of two sexual assault charges and three drug charges. He maintains his innocence.
Asked why he chose to run in light of the criminal charges, Wyatt said, “because I know I am going to be OK.”
“When you live a life as a closeted gay man, and you deal with the depression and sadness that I dealt with … you live through that storm, which I would not wish on anybody. This storm that I am going through is nothing,” Wyatt said.
“I don’t think you’ve seen the last of Russ Wyatt.”
He still faces the possibility of a trial on his current charges.
‘Positive and exciting’ momentum: Meseman
Two weeks ago, Meseman called Wyatt’s decision to run for re-election “disrespectful.”
On Wednesday, she said Wyatt called to concede and congratulate her on the win.
“People in Transcona still believe in him,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that he jumped in the race the way he did, but you know what, he did what he felt was right.”
Meseman attributes her win to a positive approach and her years of experience volunteering in Transcona. (Kevin Nepitabo/CBC)
Meseman attributes her ability to defeat not one but two former councillors to a positive approach and more than 20 years volunteering in Transcona, while raising a family in the community.
She said she first felt momentum shifting in her direction a couple of weeks ago, when 18 supporters answered her campaign’s call for volunteers to help with door-knocking one evening.
“People were just coming to the door,” said Meseman. “[That] momentum felt really positive and exciting.”
One of her first priorities as councillor will be to hold a forum to gauge Transcona residents’ priorities and forge open lines of communication, she said.