A riding that remained Tory blue on Monday was Elgin – St. Thomas – South London in southwestern Ontario. Not that the Conservative candidate, Andrew Lawton, had an easy time.

Granted, the riding has been a Conservative stronghold going back to 2000. The last MP to hold the riding was Karen Vecchio, who decided not to run this year after serving three terms.

But Lawton had his work cut out for him given that his opposition wasn’t merely his political rivals running for the Liberals, NDP, and the People’s Party of Canada. Rather, various vested interests went gunning for Lawton, trying their best to derail his campaign.

First and foremost were several mainstream media outlets that ran hit pieces. Stories suggested Lawton was everything from an Islamophobe and an antisemite to a homophobe and anti-Indigenous.

This had everything to do with statements, deemed by some to be politically incorrect, that Lawton made several years ago as a writer and broadcaster.

An example of Lawton being “Islamophobic” was provided via a Radio Canada hatchet job in which it was noted that he stated the following on Twitter (now X) back in 2011: “I'm thinking of starting an all-Muslim basketball team. They'll be called the Hezballers.“

Our take: that’s not “Islamophobic”; it’s funny. But then again, our state broadcaster seems to go out of its way to be humourless.

As well, the usual suspects on the loony left mobilized in order to torpedo the Lawton campaign.

Check out this pithy prose from Press Progress regarding an anti-Lawton demonstration earlier this month: "Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Andrew Lawton’s campaign office in St. Thomas, Ontario this weekend to speak out as the embattled Conservative candidate tries to ride it out and make it to election day.

“Melanie Taylor, an organizer of the ‘Stand Up for Decency’ rally, which was billed as a ‘peaceful demonstration to raise awareness about Andrew Lawton’s history,’ says people came to protest Lawton in response to various controversial statements he had made in the past, while others showed up out of concern about his proximity to the Freedom Convoy.”

Oh my God! Lawton had a degree of "proximity" with the Freedom Convoy?! Surely he must be a deplorable!

But Lawton did not waver. He said he personally knocked on 5,000 doors in the region and stayed on point regarding the issues that concern the constituents of this mostly rural riding.

The end-result? Lawton emerged victorious on Monday night.

How does that saying go again? Success is the best revenge.

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