The riding of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills rode a wave of rural green on Tuesday as the Wildrose candidate Nathan Cooper took the riding handily.
With no incumbent in the provincial riding, Cooper won 53.34 per cent of the vote, 10,687 total votes with 79 of 79 polls reporting. He beat out both Progressive Conservative and New Democratic Party challengers.
Conservative Wade Bearchell was second to Cooper with 5,290 or 26.40 per cent of the vote.
Glenn Norman of the NDP was in third with 3,373 or 16.84 per cent of the vote.
Jim Adamchick, the Alberta Party candidate, received 685 votes totaling 3.42 per cent.
Bruce Rowe was elected in 2012 as a Wildrose member, but he was one of the nine party members who crossed the floor in November to join the PCs. He chose not to seek re-election.
The riding had a voter turnout of about 66 per cent, with 20,035 votes cast out of 31,043 electors.