The Election - results, Jr. lost, came in 3rd out of 4, but the bottom 2 candidates together didn't get half the votes of the next candidate up the rung. Narrow margins between 1 and 2, and 3 and 4, and effectually all his campaigning did was split the liberal vote, if they hadn't run the area would have elected a more liberal candidate, but as it was 3 liberal candidates split the vote so that a single Conservative could win.
He spent a lot of time and money under the delusion that he could win this. He didn't, and his running proved a big loss for everybody. Those few votes he got would have put #2 firmly in the lead.
He would never consider that maybe for the good of the community he should step down and throw his weight behind a more viable candidate. Which goes a long ways to explaining why perhaps a career in Public Service isn't for him.
Now he's faced with the awful reality of having to get a job...something he's so far spent his entire life successfully avoiding.