The Liberal Party painted the country red Monday, and it carried all the way to Whitehorse’s MacBride Museum, where a large crowd of party followers awaited the man of the hour – the newly elected Member of Parliament for Yukon, Larry Bagnell.

While the national results came pouring in, the Liberals were scooping up seats in the House of Commons at about the same rate that the museum was filling up with giddy supporters, clad in red garb and buttons that read, “Larry works for me.”

When the first three Yukon polls were tallied, NDP candidate Melissa Atkinson was positioned at the top, with more than 50 per cent of the votes.

“We were a little frightened when those first polls came in,” said Rod Taylor, a recently announced candidate for the Yukon Liberal Party.

“Clearly, it was going to come down to the votes between him and Melissa.”

By the time the next round of polls came in, Bagnell had pushed to the front of the pack, with Conservative candidate Ryan Leef behind him, followed by Atkinson and Green candidate Frank de Jong.

“Tonight is the night for strategic voting,” a Liberal party faithful said, raising a wine glass for other supporters to clink.

The room erupted in exuberant cheers and whistles when the Liberals had secured 170 seats – the threshold for a majority government to be formed.

A card that read “Prime Minister” stapled onto a poster of Justin Trudeau had officially become a reality.

As the Yukon’s polls slowly trickled in, the crowd tensely studied the white board which was being updated as the numbers came in.

While the happy crowd made it appear obvious that Bagnell would keep his lead, it wasn’t secure until Richard Mostyn, the Yukon Liberal Party’s vice-president, took the microphone and announced, “Larry Bagnell is the new Yukon MP.”

“What a night to be a Liberal, what a night to be Canadian,” Taylor told the crowd.

The bouncy music of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)” got the crowd clapping to the beat, stomping their feet and chanting, “Lar-ry! Lar-ry!”

Bagnell’s wife, Melissa, carried their daughter, Aurora, to the front of the room while the veteran politican worked his way through the crowd, with his son, Dawson, perched on his shoulders.

With hands reaching out to be shaken from all directions, Bagnell stopped to thank several people on his way up to the podium.

With Dawson still atop his shoulders, Bagnell started to thank all the people who helped him get to where he is – beginning with his family.

“Melissa was like a single parent for two years. I don’t know how she did it, but ....” Bagnell trailed off, handing a gift to his wife.

“Love you, sweetie,” he said, embracing her as they both started to tear up slightly.

He congratulated the other candidates and thanked everyone who helped out on his campaign. Among those were his campaign manager Patricia Cunning, Brandon Kassbaum, Brad Weston and another volunteer, Alex Gray, who might have been the youngest volunteer to go canvassing with Bagnell.

“I want to be an MP,” Gray told the Star that night.

The first time Gray met Bagnell, his energy and vast experience as an MP inspired him.

“He really deserves this,” Gray beamed.

“This election was dedicated to those who were fearful if we had four more years,” Bagnell said.

“There’s some people (that) didn’t make their first choice tonight, but they made the choice they thought was best for Canada.”

Clad in a navy suit with a tie splattered with bright red maple leafs, Bagnell looked equal parts happy and relieved – later declaring he was “delirious for Canada.”

While talking to reporters, the MP noted that the longer election campaign allowed him to meet more people, but was subsequently exhausting.

“We had 16 debates, probably more than any candidate had in the country,” he said.

Asked when Yukoners can expect to see some of the Liberal Party’s promises acted on, Bagnell said restored funds to departments such as Parks Canada and scientific research centres will come out with the budgets in February.

The promised inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women will hopefully occur “as soon as we get going,” he said.

As for the contentious amendments made to Bill S-6, which deals with environmental assessments of proposed developments, Bagnell had previously noted that the Liberals would repeal the amendments if elected.

“As soon as we can get it to the House, we will,” he assured the group of reporters.

All the other candidates showed up to MacBride to offer congratulations to Bagnell.

“You did this last time, and now it’s my chance to do it,” Leef said, taking Bagnell’s hand and raising it in the air.

Though Bagnell’s feat was celebrated heftily at the venue, it wasn’t necessarily expected at the beginning of the night.

“I thought (the Liberals) would probably get the minority government,” said Ione Christensen, a former Yukon senator and the first woman to be named Commissioner of the Yukon.

“My husband (Art) predicted a Liberal majority, and I said, ‘Oh, it can’t possibly be!’” Christensen laughed.

Because polls had been so close throughout the campaign, she added, it was difficult to predict results with any certainty.

The former politician is confident in Trudeau’s abilities – and Bagnell’s.

“(Trudeau) is a leader ... he had a really strong team of good people around him, and that’s what it takes to run a country.

“Larry works very very hard for everybody. It doesn’t matter whether you voted for him or not; Larry is there. And I think that’s important.”

Bagnell’s campaign manager, Patricia Cunning, noted that there was a moment where they could feel the campaign moving in their favour.

“But, you never know,” she said, adding that in the 2011 election, Bagnell lost to Leef by 132 votes.

“You never feel confident,” Bagnell said. “You always run like you’re one vote behind until the very last minute.”

Others were impressed by Bagnell’s self-deemed “100 per cent positive campaign.”

“The one thing Larry Bagnell did was that he was incredibly respectful for the other candidates,” Taylor said.

“If nothing else, that resonated with people. I hope that’s the way things will be moving forward ... And in the territorial election, too.”

Taylor announced in August that he’d be running for the Yukon Liberal Party in the territorial election next year.

The positive campaign, based on policy and ideas, was simple, Cunning said.

“We just explained to people what we were running on.”

“I’ve known Larry since 1998,” she said, adding that she has worked on each of Bagnell’s campaigns.

“There’s a lot of people in the communities who think I’m Larry’s wife because in the old days, I would go on tour with him to the communities all the time.

“He is the best candidate I’ve ever known.”

For Bagnell’s wife, Melissa, it is a feeling of relief.

“This is his passion, and I really believed that’s where he should be,” she told the Star.

The lyrics to Bagnell’s winning song – “I would walk five hundred miles / And I would walk five hundred more / Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door” – seem to seamlessly fit the man who was voted hardest working MP in Parliament and spent months tirelessly knocking on Yukoners’ doors to wind up re-claiming his seat in Parliament.

“If you are sincere, what you say resonates with people. And that’s Larry to a tee,” Taylor said.

“Nice guys can finish first.”