Three years ago, Gwen O'Mahony was a last minute candidate in Chilliwack-Hope for the BC NDP, yet she finished with 33 per cent of the vote behind BC Liberal Barry Penner's 53 per cent.

"We had a handful of people to work on the campaign and virtually no money in the bank," she told the Times Monday.

O'Mahony was selected by the Chilliwack-Hope NDP riding association in a nomination meeting Saturday where she garnered solid support and even some cash for the upcoming byelection.

So with a bit of money, O'Mahony's experience, a fractured right-of-centre vote, and a history of byelections that hasn't been kind to incumbent parties, NDP members think they have a real shot in the riding for the first time ever.

O'Mahony faced off against FVRD director Dennis Adamson and nursing professor Katheen Stephany for the NDP nomination. She won on the first ballot, which was decided by 35 out of 84 riding members.

At the meeting, Sue Hammell, NDP MLA for Surrey-Green Timbers, got on stage and gave a fundraising pitch to the members present. Within 20 minutes they had raised $10,000 for the campaign.

"It was really quite something to witness," O'Mahony said.

"When [party leader] Adrian Dix started out his speech, he basically said 'Welcome folks, this is NDP country,'" she added. "We are going to run a campaign like never before seen in this area."

"She's an excellent candidate and she gave a superb speech," said Dix after the vote.

But while Dix has said O'Mahony helped raise the NDP profile locally in 2009, Penner told the Times that wasn't true. The riding changed from Chilliwack-Kent in 2005 to Chilliwack-Hope in 2009.

"Adjusted for the new boundaries, the NDP share of the vote actually went down in 2009 in Chilliwack-Hope, compared to what they got in 2005 extrapolated to the new boundaries," he said via email.

While no date has been set for the Chilliwack-Hope byelection, which was forced when Penner stepped down in early January, the NDP have started to campaign. Dix was in Chilliwack Monday again to meet with O'Mahony and a number of kidney dialysis patients pushing for a dialysis unit at Chilliwack General Hospital.

O'Mahony spent considerable time knocking on doors in the 2009 election and she said she'll be out doing that again soon.

The BC Liberals choose a candidate for the by election on Feb. 4. Conservative MP Chuck Strahl's former chief of staff, Laurie Throness, announced his intention to seek the nomination for the riding on Jan. 10 and so far he is the only candidate.

University of the Fraser Valley criminology professor and former Chilliwack Times columnist John Martin was acclaimed as the BC Conservative Party (BCCP) candidate for Chilliwack-Hope on Jan. 24.

phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com