Hamilton municipal election heating up as summer winds down

The municipal election in Hamilton is a little more than two months from now.

On Thursday CHCH News looked at how the candidates are using the last days of summer and  if the electorate is engaged.

Last March Mayor Bob Bratina announced that he will not seek re-election, making City Hall’s highest office up for grabs

Councilor Brian McHattie is halfway through a 100 day tour of the city. He plans to hit all of  Hamilton’s 190 neighbourhoods before election day.

“It can be tiring, but you know you gain energy from the door. You gain energy from the people that are engaged. I’m hoping that generates some excitement, the sense that we’re, i’m listening.”

Over at Brad Clark’s campaign office, he says the team is in month two of a big push and that people are engaged.

“We’ve been open for business since July and have been hitting the ground running.

“I expected to have to have to build up a larger amount of support from the beginning. It has been really refreshing.”

One of the lesser known candidates, Phil Ryerson, is being strategic about who he talks too.

“Mostly the senior citizens right now, I’m not going into the area’s where I’m from which is the North End or anything like that because I am well known there.”

While former Mayor, and current candidate Fred Eisenburger says this is a calm but important time

“For me in terms of campaigning it’s really all about getting organized. People start to pay attention after Labour Day. You know the kids are back in school, everyone is back from vacation so come September, early October is when it really starts to resonate with people.”

The Hamilton municipal election is October 27th.