Horwath ‘proud as hell’ after NDP vote

In the end it wasn’t even close as Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath easily survived a vote on her leadership Saturday at the party’s convention in Toronto.

Horwath got the support of 77 per cent of the NDP delegates after making a passionate speech in the morning, one percentage point higher than she got at the party’s last leadership review in 2012.

“I first want to say how humbled I am by your vote of confidence and support tonight,” she said to cheers from the packed convention hall. “I am proud as hell.”

Horwath captured 811 votes while 244 delegates voted for a leadership election, admitting she hopes it puts an end to the debate about her supposed swing to the political right in the spring election campaign.

Delegates had earlier voted to delay the leadership balloting by eight hours instead of proceeding with it as scheduled right after Horwath’s keynote address, and party insiders said that might actually have helped by giving her more time to win over supporters.

“I think delegates voted on the future, on what they want to see going forward, and not so much about the concerns that were raised by some delegates coming out of the election campaign,” a beaming Horwath later told reporters.

“I feel very buoyed about the support I got from our delegates. I feel very excited about the future, and I think that they sent a very clear message here that ‘ We are prepared to go forward with you as the leader.’ ”

Most of the 21 elected caucus members had supported Horwath and there were no open challengers to her leadership, even though the unelected NDP Socialist Caucus had called for her resignation.