All night long, veteran politician Joe Trasolini was way out ahead of his two competitors in the Port Moody-Coquitlam by-election.

By the time all the ballot boxes were counted, the 64-year-old former Port Moody mayor captured 54.36 percent of the votes, well ahead of B.C. Liberal Dennis Marsden, who ended up with 30.24 percent. B.C. Conservative Christine Clark was far back with 15.4 percent of the 11,167 votes cast.

At Port Moody City Hall, Trasolini savoured his victory surrounded by supporters, including numerous NDP MLAs.

He promised that he would help his new party in any way he's wanted.

"There were no demands," Trasolini said, in an oblique rebuttal to earlier claims by his opponents that he had asked for a cabinet post in return for running for the B.C. Liberals.

Joe Trasolini says the NDP has broadened its base provincewide.

The victorious NDP candidate said that he and his team spoke during the campaign about affordability for middle-class and low-income families, as well as for small businesses.

"We have had increases in fees and charges for years," he said to his supporters. "Postsecondary tuition fees have been going up, making it unaffordable for young people to get a postsecondary education."

He also talked about protecting public health and improving life for seniors.

In an interview with the Georgia Straight, Trasolini declared that the message from his victory is that "a positive approach is always best against the personal attacks".

"And also, I think this is a clear message that the provincial NDP have started to broaden their base of support provincewide," he added. "This is just the beginning. This is going to go provincewide."

Joe Trasolini speaks to supporters after winning in Port Moody–Coquitlam.