One of the safest constituency seats in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin won comfortably in Newry and Armagh and even increased its majority.
Despite being out of local politics for the past decade, the party’s candidate, Dáire Hughes, secured 22,299 votes – gaining an extra 2,012 votes more than the party’s departing high-profile MP, Mickey Brady, in the 2019 poll.
Hughes, a former shop steward who is Sinn Féin’s deputy general secretary, was a mayor of Newry and Mourne district council but failed to get elected to its new supercouncil.
In his victory speech, he pledged to work for a united Ireland in partnership with all of Sinn Féin’s MLAs, TDs and MEPs to “reach our economic, cultural and social potential”.
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“This election was about endorsing strong leadership and positive change and the people of Newry and Armagh have done just that,” he said.
There was disappointment for the SDLP’s Pete Byrne, who came second and saw his vote drop from the previous election, receiving 6,806 votes compared to 9,449 in 2019.
Byrne singled out the “respect” shown by each candidate throughout the six-week election campaign despite their “wildly different visions”.
“I came into politics to make this place a better place to live, work and raise a family. I said when I stood here in 2019 in third place that I was just rolling up my sleeves. They are still fully rolled up; I still believe in that vision,” he said.
Gareth Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party took third place with 5,900 votes; with Keith Ratcliffe of the TUV receiving 4,099 votes.
Sam Nicholson, son of former MEP Jim Nicholson, polled 3,175 votes. Helena Young of the Alliance Party received 2,692 votes. Aontu’s Liam Reichenberg won 888 votes, while Conservative Samantha Rayner got 83.
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