The City's list of certified candidates shows Josh Rachlis's nomination for Mayor filed on August 21, 2026, the last day nominations were open, and gives him a website, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. CBC News named him among the candidates who registered that day. He answered CBC News's candidate questionnaire, and CBC published his answers with its list of August 28, 2026. 580 CFRA, an Ottawa radio station, published an interview with him in its mayoral candidate series. voche.me did not listen to the audio and takes nothing from it.
In his own words, he is an actor, comedian, songwriter, artist and content creator who posts daily videos about Ottawa, and an advertising copywriter. He says he started a Facebook group called Short-Notice Meetups five years ago that now has more than 11,000 members, that he works as a background actor in Christmas movies filmed in Ottawa, and that he was trained as a Climate Reality presenter by Al Gore. He says he has run for the Green Party provincially and federally. These are his statements, and voche.me has checked only the election history listed below.
He lists his top issues as reliable and affordable transit, homes people can afford, and safe streets. His platform post proposes a "Compassion Park" for people who are homeless, a bus tracking app, shops in OC Transpo stations, sump pumps and green driveways for flood victims, shops along the Rideau Canal, and an Art Mayor to support the arts. In his CBC questionnaire he says he would not accept campaign donations from the development and construction industry and that he opposes City funding for a new NHL arena at LeBreton Flats.
CBC News reported on August 20, 2022 that he decided at the City's election office to run for school board trustee. The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board survey published by FAIR Ottawa on October 9, 2022 lists him as a candidate in Zone 9 (Capital and Alta Vista) and shows that he sent no responses to the survey. In July 2023 CBC News wrote that his campaign history included running for Toronto mayor in 2014 and for Ottawa Centre MPP, and VoteMate's guide to the 2025 Ontario election lists him as an independent candidate for Ottawa Centre. voche.me did not find the vote counts for these races in an official result and leaves them out.
No public office, complaint, finding or news report about conduct was found in the sources opened for 2026.
