{"id":927396,"date":"2026-10-10T05:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T05:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/927396\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T05:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T05:28:10","slug":"the-high-risk-of-seeing-double-in-torontos-mayoral-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/927396\/","title":{"rendered":"The high risk of seeing double in Toronto\u2019s mayoral race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto mayoral candidate Braeden Chow, Oct. 8. Political scientists say his presence on the ballot could cause voter confusion and prove consequential for Mayor Olivia Chow in a tight race.EDUARDO LIMA\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

In his promotional photos, Braeden Chow dons mayoral chic: button-down shirt and loose tie. On this day, with a Globe photographer present, he opts for black Ray-Bans, a black leather jacket and black pants. He\u2019s become the Toronto election\u2019s man of mystery. Why not embrace the part?<\/p>\n

With the Toronto mayoral race tightening in recent days, neither of the front-runners can afford miscast ballots. That scrutiny has wrenched Mr. Chow\u2019s candidacy out of obscurity. He shares a last name with the incumbent, Mayor Olivia Chow, and appears immediately above her on the ballot, creating the real possibility of Ms. Chow losing voters to Mr. Chow, political scientists told The Globe. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a serious issue,\u201d said York University politics professor Dennis Pilon. \u201cIf the numbers even up, then suddenly a candidate that surprisingly gets a few thousand votes could be decisive.\u201d <\/p>\n

But who is the unknown Chow?<\/p>\n

His was a inconspicuous candidacy until Ms. Chow emerged from early voting on Tuesday to speak with reporters. They wanted to ask about Chris Alexander, the former federal candidate who had dropped out of the race that morning. She had something else on her mind. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just noticed there is two Chows on the ballot and there is one before me,\u201d she said, admitting she\u2019d nearly voted for the wrong person. <\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s budget hole looms over mayoral race<\/a><\/p>\n

Her campaign followed up with a social media post and a statement reminding voters to mark the right Chow on their ballots. Reddit commenters soon labelled him a decoy candidate, a plant and a spoiler \u2013 someone whose last name alone could siphon enough votes away from Ms. Chow to allow her main challenger, Brad Bradford, to win an ever-tightening contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d feel bad for sure if that happened,\u201d said Mr. Chow, who insisted nobody recruited him to the race while sitting on a bench outside the Art Gallery of Ontario and sipping a double-double. \u201cBut I\u2019d also say Olivia could join forces with me. If I win, she\u2019s on my team for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a stretch \u2013 for a few reasons. His support has failed to register in polling. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, they have incompatible political philosophies (he wants to fund city services through donations from the rich and train 100 police to be Navy Seals, \u201clike GI Joe and GI Jane,\u201d he said). <\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the family matter. <\/p>\n

He insists he\u2019s the mayor\u2019s second cousin. <\/p>\n

But, according to the mayor\u2019s campaign team, that\u2019s simply not true. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can confirm that Braeden Chow is not related to Olivia Chow,\u201d said campaign spokesman Zeus Eden in a statement to The Globe. \u201cWe have no idea where he comes from. Our campaign is encouraging all voters to look to Olivia Chow, who is number 9 on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

No hard feelings. He says he endorses Ms. Chow all the same and hopes she wins. It\u2019s an unconventional campaign.<\/p>\n

She could use the support. Ms. Chow\u2019s odds of winning appeared to narrow this week, with Mainstreet Research releasing a poll on Friday showing she leads Mr. Bradford by just 2.9 points among decided and leaning voters. The poll of 1,000 people carries a margin of error of 3.1 per cent 19 times out of 20 and was conducted Oct. 6 and 7, after Mr. Alexander had withdrawn. <\/p>\n

Researchers have found that minor candidates can pick up as much as two-tenths of a per cent if they appear next to a major candidate, said Charles Tessier, expert in citizen behavior at TACT, a Quebec-based public affairs firm and a ballot-order researcher.<\/p>\n

Chris Alexander drops out of Toronto mayoral race<\/a><\/p>\n

Fifty-three candidates are vying to be Toronto\u2019s chief magistrate. That\u2019s down considerably from the 102 who ran in 2023, but far greater than other Canadian cities. The upcoming Vancouver election has eight mayoral candidates while Winnipeg has 12. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision in Toronto is more prone to that kind of mistake because there are so many candidates,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the election is decided by a few votes, it could have an effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some jurisdictions put candidate names in random order to avoid side-by-side name duplication. Others place pictures next to the candidates. Still others place high fees and endorsement requirements on anyone applying to be a candidate. In Toronto, mayoral aspirants need endorsements from 25 people and a $200 filing fee to enter the race. <\/p>\n

Mr. Chow said he got 25 names when he filed his candidacy in May, but some endorsers messed up the form. He had to ask strangers outside City Hall to complete the list. <\/p>\n

Since then, he hasn\u2019t done much campaigning. He says he was homeless for about a week last month, showering at GoodLife Fitness. He\u2019s also been taking care of a friend\u2019s cats and working on registering a charity, the Nora Foundation, which will provide free groceries, laundry, transportation to those in need, according to a website he registered in June. He isn\u2019t certain yet how it will accomplish those lofty goals. <\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, that\u2019s a ChatGPT site,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I had the homeless week, and the taking care of cats and I\u2019m landscaping in the summer. I haven\u2019t had time to open a location and all that. But soon.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto mayoral candidate Braeden Chow, Oct. 8. Political scientists say his presence on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,3302,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-927396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-toronto","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}