On a night that would prick the nerves of any civic politician, Dennis Carrier was clearly nervous, asking for hugs from the many friends and supporters who filed into the Eagles Hall on election night.
“Try having a day like this,” he remarked to people as they came in.

It was the anticipation that had been building in the city for a long time leading up to election night.
“When I look around at my friends, family, and supporters . . . I’m a winner already. Win, lose or draw, I gave it my best shot,” said Carrier before the polls closed, showing his fifth place finish.
As Chris Spearman came neck in neck to Rajko Dodic in the mayoral race, it was clear that Carrier’s supporters in the room were ready for a changing face on council, even if Carrier didn’t win.
“No one is backing him or funding him, which means no tax money is being spent. He has the spending responsibility,” said supporter Gill Ostrom of Carrier’s over 40 years of business experience in Lethbridge.
“He is also very thorough in knowledge. He knows what the city’s needs are not only for now, but in the future because of his various levels of volunteering.”
Although it was clear that Carrier wouldn’t be the new mayor of Lethbridge, cheers erupted when Spearman pulled ahead of Dodic in what became a heated race of numbers.
“The way things have been in the city the past couple years, I would prefer a new mayor and council,” said another supporter, Bill Krauss, adding that if one were to ask anyone else in the room “they’d say the same thing.”
Carrier said he was “afraid for the same old, same old” for Lethbridge.
“This [result] is very different from what I heard on the campaign trail. “I’m surprised.”