The newly-elected member of the legislative assembly for the Battlefords, Herb Cox, might be forgiven if he felt a lot like Robert Redford's character in "The Candidate."
In that movie, Redford played a politician who, upon winning the election, turned to his political advisers and asked "what do I do now?"
But Cox, the Saskatchewan Party candidate who scored a comfortable win over two-term NDP incumbent Len Taylor by over 1,000 votes, seemed to have some idea of how he would proceed during his first days as a new MLA.
"However I can contribute to the government is what I'm going to do," said Cox.
"I campaigned on being the voice of the Battlefords to take our message to caucus, and that's what I intend to do."
His first order of business this week was to go to Regina for a scheduled Wednesday caucus meeting, where he would join a massive contingent of 49 Saskatchewan Party MLAs following the party's landslide victory in the Monday election.
Province-wide, the Saskatchewan Party won 64 per cent of the popular vote to 31 per cent for the NDP, in line with what many of the polls had predicted. It was the largest popular vote share won by any party in the province's history.
But the result in the Battlefords was much closer - just as Cox and his campaign team had predicted would be the case all along.
Final, unofficial, results in the Battlefords gave Cox 3,489 votes, compared to 2,436 for Taylor, 805 for Liberal Ryan Bater and 91 for Owen Swiderski of the Green Party. That translated into 51.1 per cent for Cox, 35.7 per cent for Taylor, 11.8 per cent for Bater and 1.3 per cent for Swiderski.
Cox said in an interview with the Regional Optimist that he sensed victory with about half the polls reporting. Those showed Cox with a growing lead over Taylor and the NDP.
"The gap was widening. It seemed every poll was coming in favouring the Saskatchewan Party," said Cox. Most of the poll results that came in from throughout the Battlefords constituency that day had Cox winning over Taylor.
The night was the culmination of over a year of effort for Cox and his campaign team, ever since he won his party's nomination in the spring of 2010 in a contested battle over Battleford mayor Chris Odishaw.
The constituency was targeted from day one by the Saskatchewan Party, with Premier Brad Wall making two appearances in the riding during the campaign period. The first was a health care policy announcement where he was joined by both Cox and Health Minister Don McMorris during the second week of the campaign.
The hotly-contested seat was also heavily targeted by the NDP, with leader Dwain Lingenfelter making two appearances in the riding early in the campaign for policy announcements.
But following his second-week appearance in the Battlefords to speak on mental health care, Lingenfelter made no further appearances in the riding - an ominous sign for local NDP supporters.
With polls pointing to a landslide defeat, the NDP leader's tour turned its main attention to Regina and Saskatoon in what appeared to be a final effort to save whatever seats they could there.
That opened the door for Wall to make his second appearance in the riding last Thursday at a hastily-organized but well-attended luncheon at the Tropical Inn in support of Cox and other area candidates. In his speech Wall made the case that only Cox was in a position to beat Taylor and the NDP.
Jubilation reigned supreme among excited Saskatchewan Party supporters at Cox's campaign office once victory was assured Monday. Celebrants included many long-time Saskatchewan Party volunteers and workers. Also, several from the real estate community were there to congratulate Cox, a longtime North Battleford realtor, on his victory.
Both Liberal Ryan Bater and NDP incumbent Len Taylor made their way to the campaign office to personally congratulate Cox.
It had been a nerve-wracking election day for Cox supporters, making his second run for a seat in the legislative assembly after a narrow defeat in 2007 to Taylor.
Supporters noted this election was a do-or-die situation for Cox politically, with a strong likelihood Cox would not take another shot at running for the legislature if he had lost again.
Cox admitted the Liberal vote was a concern during the campaign, with Liberal leader Ryan Bater mounting a vigorous and visible campaign with signs located all over the riding. During his visit to the Battlefords last week, Premier Wall admitted concern about the potential for Liberal vote-splitting in speaking to reporters.
Bater's campaign had gone so far as to put out a press release last Friday, claiming the NDP vote had collapsed and that the race in the Battlefords was between Bater and Cox. That scenario did not play out on election day.
"It was a total unknown," Cox said of the Liberal vote. All his campaign could go on was what Bater's vote totals were in the last provincial election, he said.
"Whether he would pull any more this time, we didn't know that. But obviously the people have decided and he actually pulled less than he did in 2007."
He attributes his win to a combination of factors.
"The people we talked to out on the street or on the doorsteps were saying Premier Wall and the Saskatchewan Party did what they said they were going to do. They kept their promises. They focused on a growth agenda but not strictly for the sake of growth, but for what growth can do for us as a province," said Cox.
Among the issues he plans to focus on was to stay on the file for Saskatchewan Hospital and see that through to completion, as well as create more affordable housing and more daycare spaces.
"I will be the voice of the Battlefords and whatever needs come up, I want to handle the concerns of all the constituents here."
He had particular thanks for what he called a "tremendous" campaign team, and credited a particularly well-organized election day team for getting the vote out. But his biggest thanks were reserved for the people who elected him at the ballot box.
"I want to thank the constituents of the Battlefords. They've strongly said that 'we want you to go to Regina and we want you to represent us,' and I appreciate that and I will not let (you) down."
