Essex elects New Democrat Tracey Ramsey

Tracey Ramsey claimed a hard-fought, driven victory for the New Democrats in the rural riding of Essex Monday night, as she succeeded in pushing long-term Conservative Jeff Watson from office.

Her campaign saw New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair make two trips to the riding and take swings at her key opponent on both of his visits.

When election night rolled around after the 11-week campaign came to an end, it was Ramsey,an autoworker from Puce, who prevailed in the closely contested race.

With nearly 90 cent of polls reporting, Ramsey had drawn about 41.1 per cent of the vote, compared to 35.7 per cent for Watson.

That margin was enough to see Watson, a four-term incumbent, ousted from his job.

'I'm okay with that'

Watson, a former autoworker, had served as the MP in Essex since the 2004 election. Each time he was elected as a Conservative. At 44 years of age, he has up until this point, spent one-quarter of his life as a parliamentarian.

In a concession speech on Monday night, Watson said to supporters:"Let me start by saying the lord giveth and the lord taketh away...and I'm okay with that."

Watson encouraged his supporters to "find ways to be constructive, productive, [and] encouraging"of Ramsey as she takes on the job of representing the people of Essex in Ottawa.

He was in Parliament for the entire life of the Conservative government led by Stephen Harper, which lost power in Monday's election with the Liberals taking the highest number of seats.

During the election campaign, Watson was the target of rallies that called out his positions on postal workers and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.He also faced personal jabs from Mulcair, who visited his Essex riding immediately before the election was called and again in the final weeks of the campaign.

Harper made a brief stop in the Windsor area during the campaign and appeared alongside Watson, whose children greeted the Conservative leader at the local airport.

Audrey Festeryga, a lawyer, ran for the Liberals in Essex. She placed third in the polls, taking just over one-fifth of the vote.

Jennifer Alderson had been seeking the seat for the Green Party, along with Marxist-Leninist candidate Enver Villamizar.

The NDP also claimed wins in the ridings of Windsor West, where incumbent Brian Masse was re-elected,and Windsor-Tecumseh, where Cheryl Hardcastle held the seat for the party.

The New Democrats' victories in Windsor came on a night in which the Liberals won a majority government, meaning that the Windsor-Essex regionhad elected three members who would not be part of the governing party.

They won't be part of the Official Opposition either, as the Conservatives claimed the second-most seats in Parliament.

The New Democrats held 95 seats at the dissolution of Parliament. Monday saw the party fall to third place in the House of Commons, as they lost more than 50 of those seats.