PC’s Christine Elliott wins

Progressive Conservative candidate Christine Elliott has won the riding of Newmarket- Aurora.

By B 9: 30 p. m. with 16 of 60 polls reporting, Elliott had 7,258 votes, vv or 44.3 per cent, beating incumbent Liberal candidate Chris Ballard.

“This is it, the big day,” Elliott said in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday. “It’s Election Day. I’d like to thank so many of you for your help and support these past few weeks.”

As of 9: 30 p. m., NDP candidate Melissa Williams had just over 25 per cent of the vote. Ballard had 24 per cent, or 3,932 votes.

Incumbent Liberal candidate Chris Ballard turned this longtime conservative riding red in 2014. Frank Klees, the Progressive Conservative who previously held the seat, opted not to seek re- election in 2014.

Newmarket- Aurora includes the Town of Aurora, the Town of East Gwillimbury and the Town TT of Newmarket, and has a total population of just under 120,000.

Ballard was elected with 43.94 per cent of the provincial vote four ff years ago. He most recent- l ly served as Minister of the En- vironment and Climate Change during his tenure at Queen’s Park, but also handled housing and aa poverty reduction portfo- lios.

Christine Elliott re- entered politics in a bid for the Progressive Conservative party leadership early this year and lost in a neck- and- neck final ballot battle to Doug Ford.