a red tory, she stood as a candidate for the progressive conservative party of ontario on two occasions in the early 1990s, when she was known as nancy jackman. the first was in the 1990 provincial election, when she lost to new democratic party candidate zanana akande by fewer than 1,000 votes in the riding of st. andrew—st. patrick. on april 1, 1993, she lost to liberal tim murphy by over 2,000 votes in a by-election held in st. george—st. david.