Not the result the NDP's Stefan Rumpel was hoping for Thursday night in the Swift Current byelection, but he feels it was step forward for the party.

The first time NDP candidate was able to improve the party's support from 2016 of 15 per cent of the vote to 24 per cent in this byelection.

After finding out that Saskatchewan Party's Everett Hindley had been named Swift Current's new MLA, Rumpel said the cold weather campaigning took a bit of a toll on him but in the end, it was well worth it.

"It's obviously a lot of emotions at once," he said. "That group [the NDP supports and NDP team at Houston Pizza] in that room, any disappointment I might have been feeling at this moment is just washed, they're amazing people. The people of Swift Current are amazing people... The momentum from this campaign, I can't see it stopping anytime soon."

Rumpel's goal was 30 per cent of the vote, which he was unable to attain, but he was still excited with the leap in votes noting that this is one of the toughest seats to win in the province with Premier and Sask Party MLA Brad Wall holding it for nearly two decades.

"I think it was great that we were able to push it forward like that and we were able to move it up, obviously you want to push it further everytime," he said. "That we were able to move that far in one moment speaks volumes."

The Swift Current resident plans to be back as the NDP candidate for the 2020 general election.

"I didn't go into this to go in half-heartedly," Rumpel explained before continuing on. "I didn't take a leave and have my students be without me to not continue on. It's for them, it's for my family, it's for my community. If I were to back down after all this momentum has been built and all this faith in who I am, that would be a huge disservice to this community."

Rumpel believes one of the biggest factors in the loss was around misinformation on his party's stance on the carbon tax, as the Saskatchewan Party claims the NDP supports it.