A by-election was held on April 5, 2025, in Vancouver, British Columbia, to fill two vacant seats on Vancouver City Council, following the resignations of Christine Boyle and Adriane Carr.
The by-election was notable due to record voter turnout for a Vancouver municipal by-election. In a rebuke of incumbent mayor Ken Sim's ABC Vancouver, the two vacant seats were won by progressive candidates. OneCity Vancouver's Lucy Maloney retained a seat for the party, while COPE's Sean Orr gained a seat for the party and helped it return to city council for the first time since 2018. The Green Party of Vancouver failed to keep a second seat on council.
Christine Boyle was first elected to Vancouver City Council in the 2018 Vancouver municipal election and was the first OneCity Vancouver politician to be elected as a city councillor.
Prior to the 2024 British Columbia general election, she sought the British Columbia New Democratic Party nomination for the newly established Vancouver riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain and eventually won the seat in the provincial election on October 19, 2024. Although there is no law in British Columbia prohibiting members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from holding municipal government offices, it is common for them to resign from their previous municipal positions to focus more on their provincial government duties. After being elected as an MLA, she announced her intention to resign from city council and formally did so on December 12, 2024.
Adriane Carr, the former leader of the Green Party of British Columbia, was first elected to Vancouver City Council in the 2011 Vancouver municipal election as a member of the Green Party of Vancouver. Carr was the party's first elected city councilor and was re-elected in 2014, 2018, and 2022.
Carr officially resigned from Vancouver City Council on January 15, 2025, stating that she had become increasingly frustrated with the governing style of the incumbent ABC Vancouver mayor and councillors, especially their decision to remove Carr and fellow Green councillor Pete Fry from their external positions on the Metro Vancouver board of directors. She also cited a desire to retire from politics to spend more time with her family.
As the by-election for Christine Boyle's seat was not yet scheduled at the time of Carr's resignation, it was determined that candidates would be elected to both seats in a single by-election.
ABC Vancouver announced Ralph Kaisers and Jamie Stein as the party's two candidates in the by-election on February 20, 2025. Prior to the election, Kaisers served as president of the Vancouver Police Union, while Stein was nominated as a BC United candidate in the 2024 British Columbia general election, before the party suspended its campaign.
On February 2, 2025, the Coalition of Progressive Electors nominated Sean Orr as their candidate in the by-election. Orr previously ran for city council during the 2022 Vancouver municipal election as part of VOTE Socialist.
On February 6, 2025, the Green Party of Vancouver announced filmmaker and actress Annette Reilly as their candidate in the by-election.
On January 28, 2025, OneCity Vancouver announced Lucy Maloney, a longtime cycling activist, as their candidate for the by-election.
On January 20, 2025, former Vancouver City Councilor Colleen Hardwick of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver announced the party's intention to nominate two candidates for the by-election. On February 1, 2025, the party nominated Hardwick and Theodore Abbott to run in the election.
As of the end of the nomination deadline on February 28, 2025, the following independent candidates registered to run in the by-election:
The election used a plurality at-large voting system, with the top two candidates winning election to city council.