SCOTTISH Labour have won the Hamilton by-election in a shock upset for the SNP.
Davy Russell won 8559 votes, while the SNP's Katy Loudon won 7957. Reform UK's Ross Lambie came in a close third with 7088.
Turnout for the by-election was 44.2%. Of the total electorate (61,485), 27,155 ballot papers were verified. A total of 46 ballot papers were rejected.
The by-election was held after the death of Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie, who won the seat for the SNP in the 2021 elections with 46% of the vote.
Just four candidates ran in the seat in the 2021 Holyrood elections, while the by-election attracted 10, including from fringe groups.
After the Scottish Labour victory, group leader Anas Sarwar said: "It's an incredible night and it's a tribute to a fantastic local candidate and a fantastic local candidate by the way that has had to put up with pretty elitist and classist comments about him.
"This man lives here. The other candidates are going to leave this constituency tonight whereas Davy is not leaving it tonight, he lives here."
He added: "We have proven pundits wrong, we have proven the pollsters wrong, we've proven the political commentators wrong, we've proven the bookies wrong and we're going to continue to do what we need to do to change the lives of people here in Scotland."
Russell, now an MSP, had been criticised during the campaign for declining to take part in election debates. The SNP were the bookies' favourites to win the seat ahead of the ballot.
The by-election campaign was largely defined by the introduction of Reform UK, who are currently topping UK-wide political polls.
The party spent between £20,000-£25,000 targeting voters in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse with a "blatantly racist" advert on Facebook and Instagram, which was condemned by both the SNP and Labour.
Nigel Farage, in a visit to Scotland this week, said it was unlikely his party would win the by-election, despite recent polls suggesting Reform UK was second in voter preference in Scotland with just 11 months to go to the next Holyrood election.
Reform UK, a rebranded Brexit Party, briefly had an MSP in 2021 after former Scottish Tory defector Michelle Ballantyne joined up, but she failed to retain her seat. Polls have suggested they are on track to return a significant group of MSPs in the 2026 elections.
