UCP romps to victory in Drumheller-Stettler

By Medicine Hat News on April 18, 2019.

Near blanket support for the United Conservative Party in northern stretches of the southeast region helped power the party’s candidate to a near 80 per cent vote share in the riding of Drumheller-Stettler on Tuesday night.

Nate Horner is the incoming MLA for the large riding that includes the Special Areas north of the Brooks-Medicine Hat constituency and stretches from Saskatchewan to central Alberta.

Polls in Oyen, Empress, Buffalo, Jenner, Acadia Valley, Cessford and Cereal report that Horner captured 1,032 of the 1,220 votes cast in those specific locations, according to unofficial results announced Tuesday.

Across the riding, Horner’s vote total in was 16,533 (about 77 per cent), well ahead of second-place finisher Rick Strankman (1,801 votes, 8.4 per cent) as the incumbent candidate ran an independent campaign. NDP candidate Holly Heffernan was third with 6.5 per cent support.

Horner, 37, a rancher and father of two, lives in Pollockville, about 60 kilometres north of Brooks.