Brad Bradford says he’s raised $1.8 million for his Toronto mayoral campaign, a display of financial firepower that would further solidify his evolution from an also-ran three years ago into a serious challenger for the city’s top job.
Bradford’s team announced the fundraising haul this week, on the same day the councillor for Beaches-East York held his first campaign rally at an Etobicoke community centre.
While his political opponents argue that money doesn’t translate into votes on election day, and that Mayor Olivia Chow can expect her own flood of donations as she ramps up her campaign, a spokesperson for Bradford’s team said the nearly $2 million in contributions “reflects real momentum.”
“This level of support means we have the resources to compete in every corner of Toronto,” said Isha Chaudhuri.
Bradford reached the $1.8-million amount in just more than two months — he registered for the Oct. 26 election on May 1, the day nominations opened. He’s already taken in more than twice the $780,000 he raised for his run in the 2023 mayoral byelection, in which he received slightly more than one per cent of the vote and finished eighth. He’s also raised more than the roughly $1.6 million Chow spent to win the race that year.
Zachary Taylor, director of Western University’s local government program, said it’s “kind of astonishing” that the councillor has raised so much at this early stage. He said it’s an indication that Bradford has become the “consensus candidate” among more right-leaning donors hoping to block Chow, a veteran progressive, from a second term.
Taylor said it’s also evidence that Bradford’s strategy of trying to discourage like-minded challengers from entering the race has paid off. Since 2023 he’s made himself Chow’s most persistent critic on council, criticizing her over tax increases and traffic problems, and held campaign-style policy announcements for months before he formally declared his 2026 run.
Recent public opinion polls show the mayor is still ahead of Bradford in voting intentions but that her advantage is narrowing.
It’s still possible for another big-name challenger to enter the race before nominations close on Aug. 21. The Star reported Thursday that former Conservative MP Chris Alexander is mulling a run. But Taylor said the fundraising announcement “sends a very strong message that (Bradford)‘s got the money,” and it “will be very hard for someone of the same ideological persuasion to compete.”
Chow campaign won’t say how much she’s raised
The fundraising figures mean Bradford will likely have a full war chest to take on the mayor. The city won’t officially announce the election spending limit until the fall, but it’s expected to be a little more than $1.6 million. The most well-funded campaigns can be expected to spend more than $2 million, including costs that aren’t subject to the spending limit.
Chow announced in May she’s running for re-election, but has said she’s focused on building “a more affordable and safer city” and won’t start campaigning in earnest until September.
Her election team wouldn’t reveal this week how much she’s raised, saying it would “have more to say about internal processes and details” when the campaign launches. “But I can tell you that Olivia Chow will be running a campaign that spends the maximum allowable amount,” said campaign spokesperson Devon Sissons.
Money doesn’t win elections, critics argue
The executive director of Progress Toronto, a third party advocacy group that is backing Chow, said Bradford’s fundraising prowess doesn’t mean he’s on course for victory.
“Olivia Chow won in 2023 despite being outspent by her opponents. A big fundraising total tells you a candidate knows people with money. It doesn’t tell you he has support across the city,” Saman Tabasinejad said in an email, noting that in the byelection Chow relied on smaller donations from a larger number of people, compared to Bradford and other opponents.
“Money doesn’t vote, people do,” she stated.
Tabasinejad said it’s no surprise that Bradford is racking up contributions because he “has effectively been running for mayor” since the 2023 election ended. “Given that head start, a bigger total from deep-pocketed donors isn’t surprising, and it isn’t momentum,” she said.
In addition to raising money, Bradford has been busy assembling a campaign team that includes well-known operatives form Conservative and Liberal circles.
Mike Van Soelen, a partner at the Oyster Group public affairs firm, and former Liberal strategist Genevieve Tomney are co-chairs, while his campaign is being managed by John Sinclair, former deputy chief of staff to Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre. Sinclair was also chief of staff for Scarborough-Rouge Park councillor Jennifer McKelvie as well as executive director of the Ontario PC caucus under Premier Doug Ford.
Warren Kinsella, the controversial former Liberal strategist who led Chow’s war room during her 2014 mayoral campaign, and John Brodhead, one-time policy director to prime minister Justin Trudeau, are senior advisers.
Laryssa Waler, Ford’s former executive director of communications, is Bradford’s communications director, while Isha Chaudhuri, former communications adviser to Ontario PC Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce, is press secretary.
Chow’s team declined to provide a list of senior staffers, saying it would release details at a later date.
