Mississauga mayoral race officially underway as top candidates launch campaigns

Bonnie Crombie, Carolyn Parrish neck and neck in race with Alvin Tedjo, Dipika Damerla also contending for job

Published Sep 13, 2026  •  2 minute read

Former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie, left, is in a dead heat with current mayor Carolyn Parrish, right, among voters ahead of the municipal election, according to a poll. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk / X /Toronto Sun

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The race for Mississauga’s top job shifted into high gear this weekend as four of the presumed leading contenders officially kicked off their campaigns.

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Mississauga incumbent Carolyn Parrish and the city’s former mayor Bonnie Crombie both opened their campaign offices on Sunday, while challengers Dipika Damerla and Alvin Tedjo — both city councillors — launched their campaigns on Saturday.

Speaking to her supporters and volunteers at a local coffee shop, Damerla, a two-term councillor, said: “My ambition for Mississauga is not to be a big city. Oh no. My ambition for Mississauga is to be a great city.”

The councillor, who represents Ward 7 that serves Cooksville, Fairview and parts of Erindale, City Centre and Dixie, said Mississauga is ready for change.

“I’m running for change because all of the things I’m running for I already fought for. I’m running on a new independent auditor general I fought for. I’m running on fixing the police funding formula; I fought for it. I’m running on value-for-money audits on policing and I fought for it in the past … It’s change you can believe in,” Damerla said.

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Alvin Tedjo is a city councillor in Mississauga.

Tedjo confident about his odds

Meanwhile, Tedjo, who serves Ward 2 in the Park Royal, Lorne Park and Clarkson neighbourhoods, kicked off his campaign with a block party at his campaign headquarters on Saturday.

Tedjo, who previously ran for mayor in the 2024 byelection and came in second, told CTV News he and his supporters are confident about his chances the second time around.

“We came second in the last election, so they’re are really excited that we can win this time and they’re tired of the politics of the past,” he said.

Crombie, who served as Mississauga’s mayor for nearly a decade before stepping down in 2024 to join provincial politics as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, opened her campaign office Sunday afternoon in a commercial office building in the city’s northeast.

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Crombie, Parrish in neck-and-neck battle

Later in the afternoon, Parrish also opened her campaign office in the city, tearing up as she told supporters that she spent 40 years representing Mississauga at different levels of government “and I’m not giving up on it now.”

Polling by Liaison Strategies last month showed Crombie and Parrish are neck and neck in the mayoral race with both candidates tied among decided and leaning voters with 35% support.

Damerla and Tedjo trail slightly in the poll with 18% and 12% support, respectively.

A total of 14 candidates have registered to run in the mayoral race with the municipal election day set for Oct. 26.

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