Hamilton’s municipal election will be held on Oct. 26, 2026, and only two candidates are registered to run for Ward 14 City Councillor (West Mountain): Mike Spadafora and Kojo Damptey.
MIKE SPADAFORA (INCUMBENT)
Campaign Email: reelectspadafora14@gmail.com
Campaign Website: www.reelectspadafora14.com
Mike Spadafora’s website says that he is a lifelong resident of the West Mountain, graduating from St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Elementary School and St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School.
He lives with his wife and three children in the ward.
Before being elected in 2022, Spadafora was a Business Development Manager with the paint company PPG-Dulux.
He also owned and operated his own contracting company.
Spadafora also served as the General Manager of the Hamilton Huskies Hockey Club and President of the Hamilton Kilty B’s Junior Hockey Club. He has been a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats TigerTown Council since 2019.
Spadafora ran for the Ontario PC Party for Hamilton Mountain in the 2022 provincial election.
His website lists his priorities as protecting tax dollars, open and accountable leadership, building strong neighbourhoods, and planning for the city’s future.
During this term of Council, Spadafora voted in favour of the 2023 and 2024 Hamilton Police Service budget, and ending the city poet program in order to save money amid a 5.6 per cent property tax increase in 2025.
He voted against increasing City of Hamilton property taxes by 5.85 per cent in 2023, the Encampment Protocol, which allowed encampments on public property including parks, the Vacant Unit Tax, a 5.79 per cent property tax increase in 2024, the plan for 40 tiny homes on the city’s Barton-Tiffany lands, the 2026 implementation of the stormwater fee rain tax, and a motion to pause AI data centre applications for one year.
More details on his voting record can be viewed on a new website called www.hamiltoncouncilwatch.ca.
KOJO DAMPTEY
Campaign Email: kojoforward14@gmail.com
Campaign Website: www.kojoforward14.ca
Kojo Damptey was born and raised in Ghana in Africa.
He moved to Hamilton at the age of 17 to attend McMaster University.
His website says that, since 2001, he has lived in the Ainslie Wood neighbourhood in Ward 1, the Oakwood neighbourhood in Ward 12, the Gibson neighbourhood in Ward 3, the Falkirk neighbourhood in Ward 14, the Buchanan neighbourhood in Ward 8, and now the Gilbert neighbourhood in Ward 14.
When he ran in the 2022 election in Ward 14, he was living in Ward 8.
He has worked as the Executive Director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, Manager of the Black and Racialized Student Success Centre at Mohawk College, and currently as a Sessional Instructor at both McMaster University and Wilfrid Laurier University, teaching “Anti-Racism and Social Work” and “Topics in Black, African, and African Diaspora Studies.”
In 2025, Damptey was the Ontario NDP candidate for Hamilton Mountain.
ELECTORAL HISTORY
2010 Election: The West Mountain was previously Ward 8. Incumbent Terry Whitehead won with 67.37 per cent of the vote (9,908 votes).
2014 Election: In Ward 8, Terry Whitehead won again with 76.54 per cent of the vote (9,364 votes).
2018 Election: In Ward 8, Terry Whitehead won with 57.79 per cent of the vote (5,358 votes).
2022 Election: After Whitehead opted not to run again, Mike Spadafora was elected with 28.48 per cent of the vote (2,610 votes), with Kojo Damptey second with 27.62 per cent (2,531 votes).
WARD DESCRIPTION
As of the 2021 census, the ward had 34,550 residents.
Ward 14 is the West Mountain and includes the neighbourhoods of Mountview, Westcliffe West, Westcliffe East, Fessenden, Gilbert, Gurnett, Gilkson, Falkirk East, and Carpenter.
The ward’s northern border is the Escarpment with the southern border the hydro corridor just south of Rymal Road.
The western border Highway 403 until the Lincoln Alexander Parkway, and then the hydro corridor just west of Upper Paradise Road.
The eastern border is Garth Street.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
