r/Milton • u/VoiceOfMilton • 19h ago
News Eight Years in Office. 7.9% of the Vote. What Happened.
First, congratulations to George Minakakis, Milton’s next mayor — and to everyone elected last night. Credit as well to everyone who put their name on a ballot.
Now for the political post-mortem.
Sameera Ali may have helped create the opening that ultimately helped defeat her.
In 2022, George ran for Ward 1 councillor and lost badly:
Kristina Tesser Derksen: 4,200
George Minakakis: 1,671
Then Derksen was elected federally in 2025, leaving Ward 1 vacant.
Town staff recommended an appointment. A by-election was estimated to cost $185,000–$200,000.
Sameera opposed the appointment route and supported going back to the voters.
George ran.
George won.
With 1,804 votes and just 17% turnout, the man who had lost Ward 1 three years earlier suddenly had something he had never had before:
A seat at Milton Council.
One year later:
George Minakakis: 20,262 — 45.2%
Gord Krantz: 11,398 — 25.4%
Zainab Azim: 6,203 — 13.8%
Sameera Ali: 3,540 — 7.9%
Sameera had been elected in Milton since 2018.
She didn’t finish second.
She didn’t even finish third.
She finished behind a candidate with no previous elected municipal experience.
And the by-election wasn’t her only consequential political choice.
In June 2025, Sameera co-sponsored a Gaza motion that passed unanimously.
Five months later she went significantly further: asking Milton to endorse the Apartheid-Free Communities pledge and urging Ottawa to pursue a two-way arms embargo involving Israel and expand the Gaza Temporary Resident Visa program.
That motion lost 5–4 and produced opposing petitions totalling roughly 4,000 signatures.
Sameera said she was representing residents affected by the conflict.
Fair enough.
My read was different: it looked like pandering, and like municipal political capital being spent on one of the most divisive foreign-policy issues in the world while Milton had plenty of problems firmly inside its own jurisdiction.
Can I prove that cost her the election?
No.
Nobody can look at 3,540 ballots and tell you why each person voted the way they did.
But 7.9% after eight years in elected office is not a close loss.
It is a political rejection worth studying.
And there’s a fascinating parallel one city over.
Bonnie Crombie left the Mississauga mayor’s office for provincial politics, creating the vacancy Carolyn Parrish won in 2024. Alvin Tedjo finished second.
Crombie’s provincial gamble failed, she came back for her old job, and the 2026 race became increasingly dominated by Crombie and Parrish attacking each other.
Then voters chose Tedjo.
Tedjo: 74,479 — 38.9%
He beat both the incumbent mayor and the former mayor.
Different cities.
Different circumstances.
Same lesson.
Political openings matter.
Judgement matters.
The fights you choose matter.
The constituencies you chase matter.
And sometimes, while established politicians are focused on positioning themselves for the next job, somebody else quietly walks through the door they opened.
Sameera fought for Milton voters to choose who filled Ward 1.
They chose George.
A year later, Milton chose him again.
Call it irony.
Call it a butterfly effect.
Call it karma if you want.
But the numbers are brutal.
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SOURCES
Town of Milton — 2022 municipal election results
Town of Milton — 2025 Ward 1 by-election results
MiltonNow — May 2025 reporting on the Ward 1 vacancy, staff recommendation, estimated by-election cost and council debate
MiltonNow — 2026 Milton municipal election results
MiltonToday — June 2025 reporting on the first Gaza/West Bank motion
MiltonToday — November 2025 reporting on the second Gaza motion, council vote and opposing petitions
CityNews Toronto — October 2026 Mississauga mayoral debate coverage
City of Mississauga — 2026 municipal election results