With one week until election night, a new poll shows former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie in the lead among the four main candidates in the city’s mayoral race.

Results of a poll conducted by Toronto-based Mainstreet Research released on Monday give Crombie the nod from 33.6 per cent of respondents, ahead of Mississauga Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo who garnered 28.4 per cent.

Incumbent Mayor Carolyn Parrish placed third in the poll, with 26.2 per cent, while Mississauga Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla fell to 4.5 per cent.

The remaining 7.3 per cent of respondents said they’d vote for someone else.

That survey did not include undecided voters, the pollster said.

When the 18.5 per cent of undecideds was included, the candidates stacked up as follows: Crombie 26.6 per cent, Tedjo 23.8 per cent, Parrish 21.2 per cent and Damerla 3.6 per cent. The remaining 6.4 per cent went with the “someone else” option.

For its latest poll, conducted Oct. 17-18 on behalf of Mississauga-based Y Media Group, which serves the South Asian diaspora, Mainstreet Research surveyed a sample of 942 adults living in Mississauga.

The poll was completed using Interactive Voice Response technology, the pollster said. Participants were reached via both landline and cellphone.

The margin of error is +/- 3.2 percentage points, higher for subsamples, Mainstreet noted.

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Voters head to the polls on Oct. 26

Voters in Mississauga and across Ontario will cast their ballots in the municipal election on Oct. 26.

With fierce rivals Parrish and her predecessor Crombie going head to head, political observers have pegged the Mississauga mayoral race as among the most interesting and potentially exciting anywhere in Ontario.

Crombie left the Mississauga mayor’s post in early 2024 after 10 years to lead the Ontario Liberals and take a shot at unseating Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Parrish subsequently won a mayoral byelection in June 2024, defeating, among others, Tedjo, Damerla and Ward 1 Coun. Stephen Dasko.

The two highest-profile mayoral candidates have gone head-to-head in a heated municipal election campaign prior to 2026, with Crombie defeating Parrish (2,479 votes to 2,239 votes) in a September 2011 byelection for the Ward 5 council seat.

Campaign watchers in Mississauga have noted in recent weeks that Tedjo appears to have garnered additional support, but whether or not that vaults him into a close three-way race on election night remains to be seen.

Earlier polls also show tight mayoral race in Mississauga

Mainstreet Research’s previous Mississauga mayoral poll, the results of which were released on Oct. 3, placed the candidates as follows: Crombie 30.4 per cent, Parrish 27.6 per cent, Tedjo 20.5 per cent and Damerla 10.4 per cent.

Mainstreet president and CEO Quito Maggi said at the time, “the Mississauga mayoral race is the most heated race we will see in 2026.”

Maggi reiterated this week the contest in Mississauga “will be the one to watch” on election night next week.

“Crombie continues to lead, although narrowly. However, her advantage among older voters is more significant and that should give her the advantage on election day,” Maggi added. “With one week to election day and undecided remaining significantly high, this race remains too close to call as voters consider the top three contenders.”

The latest Mainstreet poll also shows the top issues in Mississauga among voters “remain consistent and similar” to other major urban centres across Ontario:

Affordability
Crime and safety
City services for seniors

📊 New Poll: Down to the wirehttps://t.co/nO6IkkK0Sn

— Mainstreet Research (@MainStResearch) October 19, 2026

Two other pollsters have also indicated the Mississauga mayoral competition could be very interesting — and close.

Liaison Strategies’ most-recent poll, in which it surveyed a random sample of 1,000 Mississauga residents from Oct. 2-4 (margin of error +/- 3.1), found Crombie at 30 per cent, Parrish at 29 per cent, Tedjo at 26 per cent and Damerla at 11 per cent among decided and leaning voters. The remaining four per cent said they’d vote for someone else.

The pollster, a national public opinion research firm, noted at the time, “Tedjo has more than doubled his support since August, bringing the three candidates within four points of one another.”

An August Liaison poll showed Parrish and Crombie tied at 35 per cent, Damerla with 18 per cent and Tedjo with 12 per cent.

Meanwhile, the latest poll conducted by Toronto-based Pallas Data (Sept. 30-Oct. 1, using 503 eligible Mississauga voters) showed Parrish with nearly a double-digit lead over Crombie.

The pollster released its results on Oct. 3, showing Parrish sitting at 34 per cent (two points up from Pallas’ last poll in early September), Crombie at 25 per cent (two points down from last poll), Tedjo at 21 per cent (two points up from last poll) and Damerla at 14 per cent (two points up from last poll) among decided and leaning voters.

The “another candidate” option garnered seven per cent of votes. The margin of error was +/- 4.4.

Pallas noted, according to its data, 28 per cent of Mississauga voters in early October remained undecided in advance of the Oct. 26 municipal election.

The other 10 candidates for mayor of Mississauga are:

David Shaw — ran in both the 2024 mayoral byelection and 2022 municipal election for mayor. Registered to run May 1
Mike Matulewicz — ran in the 2024 mayoral byelection. Registered to run May 5
Amjad Jilani — registered to run July 14
Frank Fang — ran in the 2024 mayoral byelection and competed for the Ward 9 council seat in the 2022 municipal election. Registered to run July 15
Fadi Naami — registered to run July 20
Karam Ahmed — registered to run Aug. 20
Aamir Bhatti — registered to run Aug. 21
Gord Elliott — registered to run Aug. 21
Mohsin Khan — registered to run Aug. 18
Ana Luisa Vasquez De Espinal — registered to run Aug. 11

For more information on who’s running and the election in general, visit the city’s election page online.

(Cover photo: City of Mississauga)


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