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Morrow accepts defeat

Oct 27, 2016 | 2:55 PM

The man who became the wild card in Prince Albert’s mayoral race is speaking out after coming up far short of his winning goal.

Josh Morrow told paNOW he feels he did everything he could and can walk from the campaign with his head held high.

“We had so many people that voted for the first time ever in their life and, you know, people who have lived here since 2000 and they voted for the first time,” he said

Morrow would finish in third place with 1,535 votes, behind Greg Dionne at 4,450 and Martin Ring at 2,774.

During the election, one of the more noticeable exchanges was not between the candidates but rather between Morrow and the Prince Albert Daily Herald.

At one point the local newspaper said they refused to cover Morrow’s campaign and even on the day of the election, Morrow’s picture was noticeably missing from the list of candidates in Wednesday’s edition of the newspaper.

There were also several articles printed in the newspaper, claiming to have proof Morrow was linked to an anti-council site, or an alleged restraining order placed against him by an Alberta farmer. 

Morrow had told paNOW the case was thrown out of court, as it was based on the accusations of one farmer with an axe to grind. Morrow would respond to many of the allegations through social media.

“I was fighting the newspaper head on and I wasn’t backing down from it for reporting on half-truths,” he said.

Morrow said if he was put in the same position, he would do it all over again, adding he would have fought just as hard for the city.

“It was a battle and there were a lot of groups against us and persevered. We went down to the finish line,” he said.

Moving forward Morrow plans to take a couple weeks off and think about his future.  At this point he said it’s too soon to know if he will run again but he is also not ruling it out.

Thursday morning, Morrow send a text message to Greg Dionne, wishing the mayor-elect congratulations.

“It was an amazing experience and we pushed hard, pushed the other candidates to do better and be better,” he said.

Morrow extended his thanks to the members of his team who helped him, and to all the people who voted for him.

 

nmaxwell@panow.com

On twitter: @nigelmaxwell