Dr. Richard Starke won the riding for the Progressive Conservatives in the 2012 election, and was one of only two PC MLAs to win re-election outside of Calgary in the 2015 election. He placed second in the PC leadership election of 2017 on a campaign of remaining an independent party from Wildrose. When the PCs subsequently voted to join the Wildrose and form the United Conservative Party, he announced he would continue to sit as a PC rather than join the new party.