Rota part of the Red Wave

Anthony Rota says it was exhausting.

The Liberal Candidate for Nipissing-Timiskaming was part of the red wave that took over Canada along the local riding on Monday night as Rota and the Liberals claimed a Majority Government.

Rota, who fell by a mere 18 votes to Conservative candidate Jay Aspin back in 2011, rolled over the opposition this time around by claiming more than 50 percent of the popular vote and overwhelmed his Conservative counterpart by 10,961 votes.

"After the last election I looked at it I thought maybe people made a mistake, maybe they were just looking at something different and well it feels good," Rota said to reporters when he arrived at the Davedi Club for his election celebration.

"We will have to re-group and see what's going on and probably take a trip to Ottawa and get everything organized," added Rota.

When asked if he would be seeking a cabinet position, Rota gave a very generic response.

"I am very happy to be the member from Nipissing-Timiskaming, I am humbled by it and look forward to serving the people of Nipissing Timiskaming," he said.

Rota believes some of the campaign's success came from steering clear of any political mudslinging during the long campaign.

"One of the things we tried to do is we tried to take the high road and not criticize anyone else just give the facts out and I am very proud of the campaign we ran not only in this riding but right across the country," he said.

Rota was first elected as M.P. in June of 2004 when he defeated then conservative candidate Al McDonald by more than 2,200 votes.  

In 2006, the Liberal candidate then collected 44.7 percent of the vote defeating Conservative Peter Chirico, who finished back at 34.5 percent. 

He was then re-elected for a third term in 2008 when he defeated local lawyer and Conservative candidate Joe Sinicrope.  

Rota gathered 18,543 votes while Sinicrope finished in second with 13,463 votes.