Samraj brings fresh face to council
37-year-old joins five incumbents and two former aldermen on Medicine Hat city council
The young man who spent three years preparing to run for Medicine Hat city council took the second highest number of votes on Monday.
Kris Samraj, 37, will be the new fresh face on council having achieved 7,619 votes, taking second place to Robert Dumanowski who led the way with 8,356 votes and will serve a sixth term as councillor.
Samraj seemed genuinely surprised by his success.
“People were really friendly and welcoming but it is hard to know how representative that is of the city,” said Samraj, who had attended council meetings for the last three years to gain an understanding of the issues.
There is a changing of the guard and a passing of the torch, said Medicine Hat College political commentator Terry Chapman, calling it “exciting.”
Samraj’s win consciously and unconsciously will raise the bar in council, said Chapman.
“Kris will embrace this challenge and do well,” she said.
Jim Groom, political science instructor at Medicine Hat College expressed surprise at just how big Samraj’s win was.
“This is not something I entered into lightly. It is a serious job that can have serious consequences. I tried to be mindful of that,” said Samraj, who works at the Medicine Hat Public Library.
Dumanowski is experienced at election campaigns but says he never makes any assumptions about the outcome. “I fight hard. We work hard,” said Dumanowski who employed a “grassroots” approach. “I am truly humbled beyond words quite frankly at the support I have been given tonight.”
In 2013 Dumanowski received 10,797 votes when voter turnout was 40.21 per cent. This election voter turnout was estimated to be 34.61 per cent, with 17,308 votes cast, including 1,619 in the advance polls.