---
title: "Mark Sutcliffe won 8 suburban and rural wards with over 50 per cent of the vote"
description: "An analysis of Ottawa's mayoral results shows Sutcliffe's widest margins came from rural wards outside the Greenbelt, while Jeff Leiper carried the urban centre."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/ottawa-2026/news/sutcliffe-rural-wards-november-2026"
last_updated: "2026-11-04T23:43:27.391Z"
---

Mark Sutcliffe won re-election as Ottawa mayor on 26 October 2026 with 139,354 votes, 44.32 per cent of the 314,393 ballots cast, and carried 20 of the city's 24 wards. A ward-by-ward breakdown published by West Carleton Online on 4 November shows his widest margins came from rural wards outside the Greenbelt, while [Jeff Leiper](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/jeff-leiper) won four inner-city wards.

[Neil Saravanamuttoo](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/neil-saravanamuttoo) finished third with 34,463 votes (10.96 per cent) and [Alex Lawson](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/alex-lawson) placed fourth with 23,605 votes (7.51 per cent). Turnout was 36.21 per cent of the 868,248 eligible voters.

## Sutcliffe's strongest wards

West Carleton Online reports that [Sutcliffe](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/mark-sutcliffe) took more than 50 per cent of the vote in eight suburban and rural wards outside the Greenbelt. His three highest shares were in Osgoode (59.8 per cent), West Carleton-March (57.9 per cent) and Rideau-Jock (57.8 per cent). He also won Orléans East-Cumberland with 52.7 per cent, Orléans West-Innes with 51.8 per cent and Orléans South-Navan with 51.5 per cent. Stittsville gave him 51.7 per cent and Kanata North 51 per cent.

Sutcliffe's narrowest margins were in Bay Ward, where he won by 77 votes, and in River Ward, where he won by 104 votes, West Carleton Online reports.

## Leiper's urban support

West Carleton Online reports that Leiper's strongest ward was Somerset, where he received 8,508 votes (62.6 per cent) against Sutcliffe's 2,683 (19.8 per cent). Leiper also carried his home ward of Kitchissippi, where he served three terms as a city councillor before running for mayor.

Under the city's current boundaries, following amalgamation in 2001, Sutcliffe's overall lead was clear. West Carleton Online notes that the picture would have been different under the old pre-amalgamation City of Ottawa boundaries: in nine wards that correspond to that old city, Leiper outpolled Sutcliffe, with 49,650 votes to Sutcliffe's 37,267, according to West Carleton Online's analysis.

## 2022 comparison

The pattern follows the 2022 mayoral race. In that contest, Sutcliffe won his first term with 51.4 per cent of the vote over Catherine McKenney's 37.9 per cent, with Sutcliffe's support coming from suburban and rural Ottawa and McKenney's concentrated in the urban core, West Carleton Online reports.

You can see the complete unofficial count for every candidate in the 2026 Ottawa mayoral race at the [results page](/on/ottawa-2026/results).

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/on/ottawa-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.