Rachel Chernos Lin has won the Don Valley West by-election with nearly 55 percent of the vote, beating competitor Anthony Furey by more than 20 points in what began as a wide-open race, but had in recent weeks become a battle of political polarization between the two leading candidates.

Chernos Lin, a Toronto District School Board trustee and the current chair, ended the night with 12,899 votes, followed by Furey with 7,343. Sam Robinson, son of former ward councillor Jaye Robinson, came in third with 1,271 votes.

Weeks earlier, Furey told The Local that the partisan divisions that had seeped into the by-election were working in his campaign’s favour. Furey, a right-wing candidate and former newspaper pundit who critics say has fuelled anti-Islam and transphobic sentiment, has previously worked with conservative media outlets like True North and the Toronto Sun. In late October, less than a week before advanced voting, Liberal party-affiliated candidates Dhruv Jain and Evan Sambasivam suspended their campaigns and endorsed Chernos Lin due to fears of splitting the vote and enabling a Furey victory. (Their names still appeared on the ballot, and they each received less than one percent of the vote.)

Furey’s presence on the ballot also prompted progressive not-for-profit organization Progress Toronto to distribute “accountability flyers” to Don Valley West residents citing some of Furey’s most controversial columns.

All results are unofficial until the election has been certified, and may be subject to a recount.

The by-election was triggered when 14-year city councillor Jaye Robinson died of cancer in May.

Voter turnout was 31.8 percent. In recent elections, Don Valley West has had an above-average turnout, with 33 percent voting in the 2022 municipal election and 44 percent voting in the 2023 mayoral by-election, respectively three and seven percent higher than the city-wide averages.

Chernos Lin has been the ward’s Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustee since 2018, during which time she has advocated for school safety, student mental health, and food security. She has notably been the TDSB lead on a multi-school board lawsuit against social media companies like TikTok, Meta, and Snapchat for alleged harms caused to youth mental health and attention spans, and spearheaded a TDSB motion to develop a cell phone use policy.

Chernos Lin campaigned on a platform of reducing gridlock in the ward and improving road safety and community infrastructure, among other priorities. She was endorsed by the ward’s Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman and MP Rob Oliphant, as well as by Toronto Deputy Mayors Jennifer McKelvie and Mike Colle, and city councillors Josh Matlow and Shelley Carroll.