On Sunday afternoon Stefan Rumpel won the NDP nomination to run in the upcoming Swift Current provincial byelection.

Rumpel has been a teacher for the last eight years at the Swift Current Comprehensive High School and is the owner of the Swift Current Improvisational Theatre.

He talked about what it was like to win.

"Honoured, humbled, and excited," Rumpel said. "Mixtures of multiple emotions. Really probably though, energized knowing that I get to be the candidate and that I get to be the person moving forward."

The father of two said that part of him wanting to run for the NDP nomination was because he is directly affected by every decision made in Swift Current.

"I'm directly connected to every decision in this community. If something happens in education, that matters to me. If something happens to health care that's going to affect what goes on if my children are sick or need help. If there are changes to the budget for municipalities and we have to increase our rates for power or an increase to our property taxes, well for my family, that's the amount of money we have to thrive in this community is affected."

Rumpel said looking forward he wants to prioritize education, health care and support for young people in the community.

"We need to look at working together," he said. "In my opinion, if you build at the base with those individuals who are lower socioeconomic, and middle-class individuals, and you make sure that their support is solid and that they have money to put into the economy which then boosts it, for everyone. Taking care of for the vulnerable, taking care of every member of a community, is what's causes a community to thrive and grow."

Rumpel won the majority of the 55 votes to beat Shaun Hanna and said that he appreciated running against his opponent.

"I have nothing but respect and admiration for him and the work he does in this community," he said. "I reached out to him directly after this happened and said I need him on my team."

Hanna said that he would be happy to stick around with Rumpel.

"We couldn't have been in a better position for the NDP in Swift Current to have two local candidates that really care about local issues," he said. "Stefan and I actually had a chance to talk initially at the race when we first found out who was running and both of us committed to supporting each other, and in some parties when you have a contested race it's this sort of bitter rivalry, and in this case it was unification."

This was the first time in 15 years that the NDP had multiple nominees trying to become the party's candidate for the Swift Current constituency.

Interim NDP leader Nicole Sarauer said to see the support and the turn out makes her excited about the future of the NDP.

"It was very exciting to see both the fact that we had a contested nomination and a room full of energetic people that are excited about the byelection," she said. "Both candidates were incredibly strong, incredibly engaging; It's a really exciting time to be a New Democrat, and it's a really exciting time in politics."

Sarauer said for the next step for Rumpel will be getting ready for the byelection.

"We'll be hitting the ground running. making sure that they have a team ready to hit the doorstep with our candidate, ready to speak to the people in the community, have those discussions and get ourselves some votes and make a statement here in Swift Current."

So far only the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP have their candidate for the contest announced.

As it stands right now, Rumpel will be going up against the Saskatchewan Party's nomination, Everett Hindley.