Lumby Mayor Acton Wins Provincial Seat, What Now
Lumby mayor Kevin Acton elected MLA for Vernon-Lumby, pledges to fund by-election for his municipal seat
October 25 2026 - Longtime Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton has won both the municipal mayoral race and the provincial Vernon-Lumby seat in the space of one week.
Acton was re-elected mayor of Lumby on October 17, 2026, then defeated two-term NDP incumbent Harwinder Sandhu in the provincial election on October 24.
Preliminary results show Acton (Conservative) with 12,702 votes (50.8%) to Sandhu’s 9,448 (37.8%), a margin of more than 3,200 votes.
Prior to the provincial vote, Acton publicly stated that if elected both as mayor and as MLA, he would resign the mayoralty and personally cover the cost of a by-election for the Lumby mayoral position, to the extent permitted by law.
Acton made the statement in a Facebook post dated September 30, Acton wrote that if he had the privilege of being elected Mayor of Lumby and then as the Conservative Party of British Columbia MLA for Vernon-Lumby, he would “personally cover the cost of holding a proper mayoral by-election in Lumby, to the extent permitted by law.”
The dual win raises practical questions about timing. Acton will need to decide how soon he steps down as mayor once he is sworn in as MLA, and whether the by-election process can proceed promptly.
His pre-election commitment was intended to address concerns that holding both offices would leave Lumby without an elected mayor for an extended period or force the municipality to absorb the full cost of a by-election.
Acton’s path to the Conservative nomination was not straightforward. In the 2024 provincial election he ran as an Independent in Vernon-Lumby after the Conservatives selected a different candidate, finishing third.
For the 2026 snap provincial election Acton was selected as the BC Conservative party’s candidate.
It's unknown at this time how Lumby will manage the transition.
The Conservative Party of BC has not yet issued a detailed public statement on the dual-role logistics.
Lumby Mayor Acton Wins Provincial Seat, What Now
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