Strangford: Unionism loses when it is divided, warns Jim Shannon
After being elected as the MP for Strangford for the fifth time, Jim Shannon's message was “where unionism is divided, unionism loses”.
The DUP stalwart – who branded himself as “everyone's MP” – topped the polls with 15,559 votes, followed closely by Alliance's Michelle Guy who attracted 10,428 votes.
He topped the polls in the 2019 election with 17,705, meaning this time around his vote decreased. Boundary changes and a strong challenge from the Alliance Party contributed to this.
Mr Shannon said: “Can I say first off all, as a Christian, I thank my Lord and saviour for this victory and for his grace.
“My family for their patience and Michelle McIlveen my election agent and Team Shannon for their faithful and incredible work, and thank you to every person who put the X beside my name.
“I am humbled and I am energised by that. I did probably between 12 to 15,000 steps every day, my girls and staff that worked the doors for me told me they did between 21 to 23,000 – I’m surprised if anyone has any rubber left on their shoes.
“I leave this thought for unionism. We had four unionist candidates on the paper. Where unionism is divided, unionism loses.
“My urge for all of those of the unionist parties that ran in this election and across this province is simple – unionism needs to look at themselves and where they are and work together."
Mr Shannon then paid special tribute to independent unionist Alex Easton, who won in North Down.
He stated: “Can I pay a special thanks and congratulations to Alex Easton for his victory in North Down.
“Alex and I were at a Christmas carol event about five years ago and we thought we were going in together at that time, but we didn’t.
“But today we are and we will work together at Westminster.”
He continued: “As a Christian, I’m everybody’s MP by the way and I want everyone to know that.
“In Galatians 6:9, it says ‘let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart’ – that’s who I am.
“I never grow weary of doing good for everyone in my constituency in Strangford and I will do that in the future.”
TUV candidate Ron McDowell secured 3,143 votes. Sinn Fein's Noel Sands obtained 2,793 votes, while the UUP's Richard Smart got 3,941 votes.
Mr Smart wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Thank you Strangford! Thank you to the almost 4,000 people that put their trust in me and my party to deliver better. Sadly, this time it was not to be, coming third in the poll, but what you have delivered is a sound platform to build positive pro Union leadership in the future.”
strangford
Jim Shannon (DUP) 15,559
Michelle Guy (All) 10,428
Richard Smart (UUP) 3,941
Ron McDowell (TUV) 3,143
Noel Sands (SF) 2,793
Will Polland (SDLP) 1,783
Alexandra Braidner (Green) 703
Garreth Falls (Independent) 256
Gareth Burns (Independent) 157
Barry Hetherington (Con) 146
Turnout: 52%