Although Calgary’s new mayor has plenty to celebrate, Naheed Nenshi said he hasn’t had a moment to let any of it sink in.

As he sat in Amsterdam Rhino amongst hundreds of Calgarians dressed in purple Monday night, Nenshi acknowledged a brief moment when he knew the tables were turning.

“Well you know, I’m used to being on the election-night panel at these things, so intellectually I knew those numbers didn’t mean anything, but sure enough I have to admit that I had a rock in my stomach,” he said of the early results that showed Higgins in the lead, then later McIver, before he mounted a charge that lead to a 27,877 vote margin.

“When the numbers started to change, there was a point at which I knew it was going to happen and I think it was about 30 seconds before the 500 people in Amsterdam Rhino figured it out, so I had about 30 seconds to get myself ready for this crazy, crazy wall of noise and excitement.”

With more results coming in and Nenshi’s numbers surging, he said his family was just as excited as he was.

“I saw my sister on Shaw TV losing her mind, trying to keep it together, meanwhile I was a kilometre away losing my mind in a group of about 500 amazing supporters losing their minds too,” he said.

“Wow, I mean wow. That’s all I can say.”

Since that moment when he was officially declared the winner, Nenshi has been going non-stop and has yet to have a moment of solitude.

With national media fixed on Calgary, the new mayor has the whole country talking about our city.

“I’m just grateful. I’m grateful that Calgarians have found something in my vision that they are excited about and I’m excited about it, too.”