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Henry Yao

Henry Yao

Henry Yao is a Canadian politician born in Taiwan around 1978, a former New Democratic Party member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Richmond South Centre (2020 to 2024).

Born
1978
Party
New Democratic Party of British Columbia
Education
University of British Columbia
Political position

Centre-left · Where sources place the party (New Democratic Party of British Columbia)
Placing of his former party, the BC NDP, not stated on the pages read
Ideology: social democracy

1%Probability · Richmond Mayoral Election 2026

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He holds a psychology degree from the University of British Columbia and has worked in youth work. He is a candidate for Mayor of Richmond in the 2026 municipal election.

Career

Yao immigrated to Canada at 11 and grew up in Richmond. He ran unsuccessfully for Richmond City Council in 2014 as an independent and in 2018 with RITE Richmond. In 2020 he was elected to the provincial legislature for the NDP, defeating Liberal Alexa Loo by 179 votes, and in 2024 he lost the redrawn Richmond Centre seat to Conservative Hon Chan, taking 36.78 per cent of the vote. After his career in youth work he turned to politics.

Positions

Announcing his mayoral run on Facebook, Yao said he would focus on "solutions, not partisan extremes". A mid-August 2026 debate among Yao, Kash Heed, Alexa Loo and Sheldon Starrett showed differences over infrastructure priorities such as dike upgrades and flood protection, tax levels and municipal support for the Richmond Night Market.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia

Photo: BC NDP, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

  1. Henry Yao 1%
100%50%0%

Aug 11Sep 11Oct 13

Richmond Mayoral Election 2026

OutcomeLeft – RightProbability
Rob Howard41%
Kash HeedCentre-right28%
Alexa Loo19%
Dickens Cheung2%
Henry YaoCentre-left1%
Mei Kang<1%
Sheldon Starrett<1%

All 7 outcomes

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