Jennifer Rice has been elected for the NDP on the North Coast.
The Prince Rupert city councillor, who won the nomination following the retirement of incumbent NDP MLA Gary Coons, handily won the riding with more than 55 per cent of the popular vote. Rice's tally of 4,341 votes was well ahead of Judy Fraser's 2,540 votes, which was good for 33.12 per cent of the popular vote. Hondo Arendt of the Green Party finished with just over 10 per cent of the popular vote and 787 votes total.
"I'm really happy that we won North Coast. I'm just in awe and gratitude because this was such a collective effort... I'm totally in awe, I'm totally impressed. Thank you so much, I've never felt so supported, ever," Rice told supporters at a gathering in the Legion following the election.
"I'm ready. I'm going to take two days, get some sleep and then I'm ready to fight. I'm ready to go to Victoria... We did really well on the North Coast. We may not have won the war, but we certainly won this battle."
It was a bit of a bittersweet win for Rice who admitted she was expecting to be part of an NDP government. Shortly after 10 p.m., all major media outlets were calling for another Liberal majority government meaning Rice would be heading to Victoria as a member of the opposition.
"I was prepared for us to be in government. It would be a lie to say that I'm not a little disappointed we're going to be in opposition, but that's OK. I still believe that we're going to have change for the better," said Rice.
"I'm OK with being in opposition. We're going to do really well there as well."
The Liberal majority was welcome news to BC Liberal candidate Judy Fraser.
"It's very exciting. I'm thrilled to see Christy Clark and the BC Liberals have done an amazing job. I'm not surprised, she's a strong leader," said Fraser, who noted the North Coast is a "strong NDP riding".
"I just stood up for the community. I wanted to see the North Coast have better opportunity for families and a strong economy."