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We’re expecting one of the two leaders to come out and speak fairly soon – likely Hogan first.

Liberal candidate John Whelan and his campaign team walked into the party's HQ a while ago — the first campaign team to stop by all night.

Whelan and his team are disappointed but in good spirits — lots of hugging and toasts happening right now.

Whelan told Radio-Canada that the result wasn’t what he wanted, but he knew the result was going to be close, and he offered O’Leary his congratulations.

“Every election is an opportunity for a party to reflect on performance,” Whelan said.

Joe Power is projected to win the hotly contested seat in Labrador West, while Keith Russell is projected to win Lake Melville. In a less surprising decision, Lela Evans is projected to take Torngat Mountains.

It’s a huge victory for the Progressive Conservatives, who held none of these seats after the last election.

If the Progressive Conservatives win a majority government, it will be thanks to vote efficiency.

More simply put, they are winning most of the closest races.

Of the 11 districts with the tightest vote margins between the first and second place candidates, the Tories are either the projected winners, or leading, in eight of them.

While the Liberals ran up big victories in the metro St. John’s area, the PCs pulled through in the tight races in mostly rural areas of the province.

After a night of close calls, sighs of relief and whooping were heard around the conference room at the Progressive Conservative headquarters.

We’re still waiting for Wakeham to arrive, but cheers of “Tony! Tony! Tony!” have started.

It took Wakeham two tries to win the provincial Tory leadership, but only one to secure the support of voters in a general election.

On the campaign trail, Wakeham hammered away at concerns about health care, the cost of living and crime.

The PCs hoped voters were ready for a change, after a decade of Liberal government — and they turned out to be right.

Dinn is speaking now at the party’s headquarters, calling it a “fantastic evening” for the New Democrats. It’s true the party made history tonight.

Mba was Newfoundland and Labrador’s first Black candidate in a provincial election, running for the NDP in Mount Scio. Mba is a 33-year-old small business owner, mother and anti-racism educator.

In Labrador West, Shazia Razi was the first hijabi candidate in the province’s history.

She’s well-known for her volunteer work in the region, and for being a town councillor in Wabush.

Both lost their respective races, but during the campaign, Razi talked about the importance of being a Muslim woman running in a provincial election.

"It's a lot of responsibility," she said. "Because I'm not just representing Wabush. I'm also representing a whole community."

O’Leary is now projected to win St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi.

This is a big win for O’Leary — who has run twice before and lost — and an even bigger win for the NDP, who will hang on to two seats in the legislature.

O’Leary knocked off Whelan, who put in a massive ground effort in the district, in a close race.

She says her priority will be holding the government accountable and ensuring transparency in decision-making.

As the NDP’s Sheilagh O’Leary walked into NDP headquarters grinning ear-to-ear, a room filled with her supporters enthusiastically chanted her name and erupted in applause. She is still in a tight race against Liberal John Whelan.

O’Leary held her arms out proudly to the crowd, and embraced her fellow NDP candidate, Laurabel Mba, in a long hug.

When I asked her how she was feeling, her eyes grew and she smiled.

“All kinds of feelings,” she replied.

Despite those projected victories, only a handful of people are at the Liberal HQ. Some of the central members of Hogan’s campaign team left the ballroom here at the Sheraton a little while ago.

The room is very quiet — you can hear the HVAC system. Some supporters are wondering why the vote is going this way.

Outside the room, a large pile of signs bearing Liberal campaign slogans — meant for a large crowd of supporters — sits untouched.

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