The riding of Essex has gone from NDP orange to Progressive Conservative Blue.
Former Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Anthony Leardi has been declared the winner in his riding.
As of 11 p.m. Thursday, with just over 93 per cent of polls in the riding reporting, Elections Ontario said Leardi won 51.40 per cent of the vote. NDP candidate Ron LeClair collected 28.28 per cent, Liberal candidate Manpreet Brar got 8.56 per cent, Ontario Party candidate Frank Caursarano got 6.62 per cent, New Blue Party candidate Danielle Sylvester got 2.62 per cent, Green Party candidate Nicholas Wendler got 1.97 per cent, and None of the Above Party candidate Kevin W. Linfield received 0.55 per cent.
In its current boundaries, the Riding of Essex has existed since 1999. Since then, it has only elected Liberals and NDP candidates, although there is a history of electing Conservatives at the provincial level before riding redistribution.
The Riding of Essex includes the Town of Amherstburg, Town of Essex, Town of Kingsville, Town of Lasalle, and Town of Lakeshore.
Speaking to a packed room full of supporters at his campaign office in Amherstburg on Thursday night, Leardi thanks the voters, his family and his team of volunteers and sponsors.
"I want to thank the voters of the County of Essex for choosing me to be your representative at Queen's Park. My many volunteers, the people that worked so hard to make this moment possible, by knocking on doors, by pounding in signs and by making phone calls. So many hours of hard work," Leardi said. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
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Leardi was called as the winner shortly after 9:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, it didn't take long after the polls closed at 9 p.m. for Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives to be projected to win another majority government in Ontario.
"I want to thank our leader Doug Ford who led us through two very difficult years of the pandemic, who weathered a storm of criticism, who led this province and is going to lead this province through economic recovery. We are going to build and we are going to progress into the future through the leadership of Doug Ford," Leardi exclaimed.
In addition to being familiar with municipal politics, Leardi is also a local lawyer with 23-years of experience, including 12-years as a federal agent for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
In the community, he served on local organizations like the Knights of Columbus, the Essex County Library Board, and the Essex County Nurse Practitioner Clinic.
The incumbent for the Riding of Essex, NDP Taras Natyshak, decided not to run again after representing Essex for three consecutive terms.
Leardi repeatedly referred to his victory as a "historic moment."
"The Progressive Conservative party has not elected a representative in the Riding of Essex for 60 years," he told the crowd. "That's six decades. Tonight, we turned Essex blue in '22."
