Show notes
What does it take to run for the same job twice, lose the first time in front of your entire community, and come back twelve years later to win it?
Cindy Jefferies is the mayor of Red Deer, elected in October 2025 after nearly three decades of public service. She served nine years on the local school board, nine years on city council, and ran for mayor in 2013, a race she lost. In this conversation, she walks through what that loss actually felt like, the shame and grief she carried for almost two years afterward, and the question a friend asked her before she decided to run again that changed how she saw the whole thing.
Cindy also opens up about raising three sons while serving in elected office, caring for her husband Dan through two cancer diagnoses before he passed away in 2019, and the lesson he left her with that she still leans on today. Plus the story behind 100 Women Who Care Red Deer, the giving circle she co-founded in 2014 that has since raised well over $600,000 for local charities, one meeting at a time.
🔹 THE LOSS — What it actually felt like to lose the 2013 mayoral race, and the two years it took to name the shame and grief underneath it
🔹 THE QUESTION — What Ken Johnston asked her before she decided to run again in 2025
🔹 THE LEGACY — The lesson her late husband Dan taught her that she still returns to as mayor
🔹 THE MOVEMENT — How a radio interview turned into 100 Women Who Care Red Deer and over $600,000 raised for local charities
This is a conversation about leadership, loss, second chances, and what it means to keep showing up for a community even after it says no to you once.
⏱️ What's Inside:
00:00 – Sitting beside her former opponents on election night
02:43 – What she looks for in a leader
03:34 – Giving Red Deer a seat at the economic table
05:20 – From a lost class president race to nine years on school board
10:37 – Balancing early motherhood with elected office
15:50 – Losing the 2013 mayoral race
18:17 – Naming the grief and shame that followed
21:12 – The question Ken Johnston asked before she ran again
22:27 – The lessons her late husband Dan left her with
25:58 – Starting 100 Women Who Care Red Deer
31:00 – Her leadership superpower
31:48 – Her vision for Red Deer's future
35:44 – Why municipal politics matters most
41:30 – What happiness means to Cindy
42:22 – Her closing advice on leadership
Connect with Mayor Cindy Jefferies:
City of Red Deer profile → reddeer.ca/city-government/mayor-and-city-councillors
X (Twitter) → x.com/CindyJefferies
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