Chamber of commerce boss Keanin Loomis to resign, run for mayor

Longtime chamber of commerce head Keanin Loomis says he will join the race to become Hamilton's next mayor.

Loomis, who turns 47 next week, will announce Wednesday that he will be resigning as president of the city's main business advocacy organization as of March 4, after nearly nine years as CEO.

The former Washington, D.C., lawyer said he'll throw his hat in the ring for city council's top job once the nomination period for the Oct. 24 municipal election opens in spring.

I'm ready to move on to a new challenge - and I've decided to take on the biggest challenge of my life," said Loomis, who is also a board member with the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority. I'm hearing from everybody ... there is a huge desire for change in this community. I feel like I'm the best person to lead that change."

Local grassroots group IELECT is in the midst of a campaign urging voters to spur large-scale turnover on council, including in the mayor's chair, in 2022.

Loomis' early announcement confirms a known name in a 2022 mayoral race that has so far featured mostly rumoured candidates. Past candidate George Rusich, who garnered around 2,200 votes in 2018, also told the Spectator last year that he would run again.

Current Mayor Fred Eisenberger recently told the Spectator he has not made a decision on whether to seek a fourth term, but added, I would not bet against it!"

Former mayor and Liberal MP Bob Bratina has also said he is mulling another run at the mayor's chair and expects to decide by the end of the month.

Eisenberger has pushed to make the city's contentious, off-and-on-again light rail transit line a reality, while Bratina vocally opposes LRT - even quitting as Liberal MP over his own government's support for the $3.4-billion project.

Loomis argued he successfully championed LRT through the chamber to the federal government, which stepped in last year to help resurrect the project with $1.7 billion in construction cash to match provincial funding.

LRT construction is going to be a major project for the city over the next five years. I've been doing so much work on that in particular, I think I'm the person best positioned to lead the city through that process."

He listed LRT, homelessness and pandemic recovery as major issues in the eventual campaign.

More to come ...

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at for The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com