In Vancouver Centre Tuesday night, the upstart professor running for the NDP got his egghead handed to him by incumbent Liberal Hedy Fry. But Michael Byers vows to come back and run against Fry next election.

At the NDP’s election night gathering at Heritage Hall on Main Street, Byers, an expert in international law, said his rookie run for office taught him campaigns can be “brutal,” yet admitted he’d “caught the bug.”

Byers’ campaign manager Am Johal said the provincial NDP’s stand against the carbon tax turned off a lot of environmentally conscious voters in the West End.

Byers turned down an invite from Stephane Dion to run for the Liberals in another riding, but had no regrets. He had serious policy differences with Dion’s platform on climate change and Afghanistan, Byers said. “I went with my heart.” Besides, “the Liberals are in real trouble now, facing a leadership race and their finances are shaky.” In contrast, Byers said, the NDP became a better oiled machine this election. The intellectual threw sparks at debates, garnering headlines, but arrived a virtual stranger in the West End. The colourful, occasionally controversial Fry has developed a bond with voters that gave her a sixth victory.

Fry won handily with 19,438 votes. Runner up Lorne Mayencourt, the Conservative, garnered 14,224, Byers drew 12,043, and former B.C. Green party leader Adriane Carr came in fourth with 10,316.

“We were in the mix,” said Byers. “Realistically, we are just where I want us to be.”

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.