Katie Bartel leads all Chilliwack school board candidates in unofficial results Saturday night

Oct 17, 2026 | 8:51 PM

CHILLIWACK – Several trustee candidates backed by the Chilliwack Teachers’ Association are leading in early unofficial results for the Chilliwack Board of Education.

With 19 of 19 polls reporting at 10:33 p.m., Katie Bartel is leading all candidates with 9,359 votes, followed by incumbent David Swankey in second place with 8,112 votes.

Incumbent trustee Margaret Reid is in third place with 7,726 votes.

Leah Kelley garnered fourth place with 7,561 votes, followed by lawyer Michael Carter (7,527 votes), incumbent Willow Reichelt in sixth place (7,449 votes), and Cary Moore in seventh place with 7,108 votes.

Seven trustees are elected. If these unofficial results remain true, progressives will control the Chilliwack Board of Education once again, similar to the 2022 election results.

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Katie Bartel leads all Chilliwack school board candidates in unofficial results Saturday night

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The next closest trustee candidates are:

HAMILTON, Hugh	6,900
BEDNARSKI, Barbara	6,687
GARMON, Marina	6,377
KRUGER, Christine	5,381
BOUWSEMA-CARDINAL, Brooke	5,339
RAMPTON, Hayden	4,291
HENDERSON, Paul	3,611
OLLINGER, Darren	3,585
VANGARDEREN, Brian	2,779
HESKETH, Sadie	2,239
MEGANATHAN, Sudakar	1,223

The seven candidates who were endorsed by the CTA include Katie Bartel, Brooke Bouwsema-Cardinal, Leah Kelley, Christine Kruger, and incumbents Margaret Reid, David Swankey and Willow Reichelt, of which five have been elected.

Trustees for Change, a rival bloc of candidates who pushed for academic excellence in local schools, featured Barbara Bednarski, Michael Carter, Hugh Hamilton, Marina Garmon and Cary Moore. Two of these five candidates appear to have been elected.

Three incumbent trustees opted not to run again in this year’s municipal election, including Richard Procee, Carin Bondar and Teri Westerby.

by Mike Vanden Bosch

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Katie Bartel leads all Chilliwack school board candidates in unofficial results Saturday night

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