Loomis, who was at City Hall, 410 Abbot Road, when the unofficial results were announced just after 10 p.m., said he appreciated the citizens’ vote of confidence.

Loomis, who now will face City Council’s appointment of a mayor for the new term, said he wasn’t focused on the possibility of another term as mayor. Instead, he attended Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero’s party at the Nuthouse Sports Grill, 420 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing, to celebrate his own victory along with Bernero’s victory in the Lansing mayoral election.

“We’ll talk about that tomorrow,” he said. “I just want to savor what happened here tonight.”

Beard, who celebrated at the Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe, 1601 W. Lake Lansing Road, said he felt tremendous about his victory.

“It feels great to have the trust and confidence of the community for another four years,” Beard said.

Mark Grebner, a political consultant with East Lansing-based Practical Political Consulting Inc. and a Beard supporter who celebrated with him at the Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe, said he predicted the incumbents would win by a large scale.

Grebner said the incumbents were relatively popular and challenger Hans Larsen was running his campaign on one issue — the City Center II development slated for the corners of Abbot Road and Evergreen and Grand River avenues — which doesn’t necessarily personally affect many city residents.

“For the typical voter, the city is about police and trash service and the housing department,” he said. “(Larsen) has nothing to say about trash or police or fire or zoning.”

Larsen received 685 votes and 351 people submitted write-in votes, likely for challenger Phil Bellfy, the only person to declare candidacy as a write-in. Bellfy said although he lost, he hopes his candidacy contributed to increased awareness of community issues.

“I think I did well,” Bellfy said. “I don’t do it to win. I do it so people will look at the issues.”

An issue that weighed heavy on this year’s election was the City Center II project. Both challengers were against the design of the project, while Loomis and Beard both have supported the project during their time on the council. Bellfy and Larsen said they would continue to fight the project.

“These projects fail to address the demand for affordable student housing near MSU’s campus,” Larsen said in a written statement.

Student issues also were a hot topic among candidates. ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, held a panel discussion last week to make the candidates more accessible to students. ASMSU spokesperson Portia McKenzie said the panel was to get students informed about the issues in East Lansing.

“When it comes to any issue pertinent to student life on this campus, we love forums because hearing (the) student voice is the purpose of this organization,” she said.

Patricia Sutherland, a precinct chair in Wilson Hall, said the number of voters was good and she was pleased with the turnout of students.

She said 29 people had voted at the on-campus precinct as of 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

Evans said she attributes the low turnout to the fact there were no ballot proposals this election.

“It’s what was expected,” she said.

With the exception of a small miscommunication among some election chairs who thought they were at the wrong precinct, Evans said the day ran smoothly.

“It was a really uneventful election,” Evans said.

Looking toward the future, Beard said he will focus on maintaining a balanced budget in a time where Michigan’s economy is feeling a tight squeeze.

“The community is going to continue to be pressured to cut costs in the face of this declining revenue sharing from the state,” he said. “We expect a lot more belt tightening, in addition to what we’ve already done.”

As Loomis celebrated Bernero’s victory in Lansing, he said he hoped to continue improving relationships with leaders of other municipalities, including maintaining the working relationship he has with Bernero. He said East Lansing and its regional partners need to work together during this time of economic uncertainty to make sure East Lansing can maintain a high quality of life.

“I want to maintain essential services,” he said.

“The next coming years are going to be more challenging. We don’t know exactly what is going to happen, but we must maintain and sustain our essential services.”