Andrea Horwath
A tenacious political fighter who led Ontario's NDP for over a decade before returning home to become Hamilton's mayor.
Born 1962 (age 64)·Mayor of Hamilton and Canadian politician·Birthday: October 24·Baby Boomers
Biography
Andrea Horwath’s political journey is rooted in her hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, where she cut her teeth as a city councillor advocating for social justice and workers' rights. In 2009, she stepped onto the provincial stage, elected leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. For thirteen years, she served as the pragmatic and persistent voice of the party, steering it through multiple elections and eventually into the role of Official Opposition in 2018. Her leadership was defined by a focus on kitchen-table issues: affordable housing, pharmacare, and protecting public services. While she never broke through to form government, she consistently pushed the ruling Liberals and later Progressive Conservatives from the left. In a surprising career pivot in 2022, she left provincial politics to run for mayor of Hamilton, winning decisively. As mayor, she has applied her decades of political experience to the granular challenges of municipal governance, from transit to infrastructure, aiming to reshape the city she has always called home.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Andrea was born in 1962, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Andrea Was Born
The biggest hits of 1962
#1 Movie
Lawrence of Arabia
Best Picture
Lawrence of Arabia
#1 TV Show
Beverly Hillbillies
Andrea's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1962Born
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1967Started school
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1975Became a teenager
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1978Could drive
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1980Could vote
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1983Turned 21
Internet adopts TCP/IP, creating the modern internet
Gas: $1.16/galHome: $57,700Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Every Breath You Take" — The PoliceBest Picture: Terms of Endearment
1992Turned 30
LA riots after Rodney King verdict
Gas: $1.13/galHome: $84,300Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"End of the Road" — Boyz II MenBest Picture: Unforgiven
2002Turned 40
Euro currency enters circulation
Gas: $1.36/galHome: $137,800Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"How You Remind Me" — NickelbackBest Picture: Chicago
2012Turned 50
Curiosity rover lands on Mars; Sandy Hook shooting
Gas: $3.64/galHome: $143,200Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Somebody That I Used to Know" — GotyeBest Picture: Argo
2022Turned 60
Russia invades Ukraine; Queen Elizabeth II dies
Gas: $3.97/galHome: $348,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Joe Biden"As It Was" — Harry StylesBest Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once
2026Age 64 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Served as the Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party for 13 years, from 2009 to 2022.
- Became the Leader of the Official Opposition in Ontario following the 2018 provincial election.
- Elected as the 58th Mayor of Hamilton, Ontario, in the 2022 municipal election.
- First elected to public office as a Hamilton City Councillor in 1997.
Did You Know?
She worked as a waitress and a fitness instructor before entering politics full-time.
Horwath is a graduate of McMaster University in Hamilton.
She is the first woman to be elected mayor of Hamilton.
Her father was a Hungarian refugee who came to Canada after the 1956 revolution.
“We need to build a city where everyone can afford to live and raise a family.”
