A 33-year-old Canadian who plastered yards with signs reading
“Just trying to pay my rent,” “I barely want to do this,”
and
“Do I know what I’m doing? No”
just finished fourth in a crowded field and won a seat on Kelowna City Council.
Brady Rogers, a former robotic-automation engineer and co-founder of The Rogerie, the downtown Kelowna shop that turns recovered plastic waste into consumer products, ran one of the most self-deprecating campaigns in recent memory. His website opened with the blunt disclaimer:
“Do I enjoy politics? No. Do I know what I’m doing? No. But am I qualified? Also no.”
Other signs declared
“Fine. I’ll do it,” “How hard can it be?” and “Don’t worry, I’ll fix everything… terms and conditions apply.”
This deadpan method became widely known after an American influencer posted these indications and described the whole process as “the most millennial thing ever.” The idea spread fast in Canada as well. Rogers admits clearly that he made all of those jokes deliberately.
“I’m being a little bit tongue-in-cheek when I say I am unqualified,”
Rogers told Global News before the election.
“I’ve never been a politician before, but I certainly have experience which I consider very relevant and helpful.”
Kelowna’s municipal election on October 17, 2026, featured 37 candidates chasing eight at-large council seats—the top eight vote-getters citywide win. Unofficial results from the City of Kelowna show Rogers received 12,635 votes, placing fourth behind Gord Lovegrove (15,462), Davis Kyle (14,822) and Kevin Aaron Kraft (13,505). Rick Webber, Mohini Singh, Laura Thurnheer and Les Bellamy filled out the elected eight. Turnout was roughly 31 percent, with 38,970 ballots cast. Official results are expected to be declared by October 21.
Rogers, born in Williams Lake and raised in Kelowna from age 10, graduated from UBC Okanagan, spent about four years as a robotic automation engineer, then left what he called “soulless” work to launch The Rogerie with his wife in 2019. Now a new father, he says local frustrations especially a public-access fight over the Hotel Eldorado boardwalk pushed him into the race. His priorities include housing affordability, homelessness (pairing long-term supports with clearer public order), small-business viability, better transit, and greater transparency around development costs and land-value taxation.
The result is less a story of an unqualified outsider accidentally winning and more a snapshot of how authenticity and humor can cut through a crowded, low-turnout municipal race. Rogers has already posted a video stressing he plans to take the job seriously. In a political moment hungry for something that feels real, the guy who said he barely wanted the seat now has it.
