Rob Cooper

He was elected to council in a September 2025 by-election. He is a candidate for Mayor of Hamilton in the 2026 municipal election against incumbent Andrea Horwath.

Career

Cooper was Chief Internal Auditor at McMaster University from 2010 to 2014, Vice President Strategy at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board from 2017 to 2020 and a senior strategy executive from 2020 to 2025. He won the Ward 8 by-election in September 2025, called after John-Paul Danko became an MP, with 19.6 per cent of the vote against 17.8 per cent for Terry Whitehead. He said in January 2026 that he was considering a mayoral run, confirmed it in March and registered on 1 May 2026.

Positions

According to Wikipedia, Cooper's run stems from frustration with the city budget and the limited power of councillors over it, since Ontario's strong-mayor powers made the budget the mayor's responsibility. He and Mayor Horwath often clashed on council, above all over the 2026 budget. He is endorsed by former mayor Bob Bratina, former MPP Paul Miller, former councillors Lloyd Ferguson and Robert Pasuta and several labour groups, including LiUNA.

Summarised automatically from the linked sources. Wikipedia