Their victories concluded a competitive election cycle — six candidates running for half as many seats — that centered on attracting young professionals to East Lansing. During the last several months, the candidates debated ideas on how to retain more students after graduation and diversify types of downtown businesses.

Beier received the most votes of anyone running for the four-year term, taking in about 36 percent of the vote as of 11 p.m.

The private party room at Dublin Square, where Beier was joined by more than a dozen close friends, erupted with cheers as numbers continued to show her pulling away from the pack.

Beier first announced her candidacy in April, about four months ahead of her competitors. She credited her early start as a main reason for her victory.

“I feel really good,” Beier said. “I worked hard and it worked out.”

Focused on savoring her victory, Beier said she did not know what her first policy initiative would be.

Woods, founder of the East Lansing Film Festival, won just over a third of the total vote as of 11 p.m.

Woods’ bid was backed by many permanent residents, including former mayors Mark Meadows, Sam Singh and Vic Loomis.

The two women will replace Loomis and Councilmember Kevin Beard, making the council almost entirely female.

Loomis, a long-time council member, did not seek reelection after the council ousted him from the mayor’s seat following the 2011 election. Beard decided to retire because of a professional opportunity at General Motors.

With 1,800 votes, Boyle received the most support of any candidate. It was her first time facing voters since being appointed after Don Power resigned last year.

Her husband at her side, Boyle watched the results roll in with about 10 volunteers at city hall.

As the results came in, it started to become clear who the victor would be.

“I’m feeling pretty good so far,” she said after winning her ninth of 11 precincts.

After the results came in Boyle thanked her supporters and looked to the future.

“I look forward to continuing to serve on city council,” Boyle said after the results became clear. “I appreciate all the hard work of the supporters who helped me in this election and helped me win, and I also appreciate all of the hard work of the dedicated people who ran for office in this election. We all care about East Lansing and want the best for it.”

Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett also was present, but said he was not there to support any particular candidate and only as a curious citizen.

Boyle said that there wasn’t a formula to her success, just hard work.

“I worked really hard, I don’t know what the magic is- I went to the forums and I went door-to-door and went to all the community events,” she said.

With a splash of humor, her husband added: “And she made herself available to the press.”

Susan Woods watched her victory from Joanna Bosse’s home. Although her mind has been elsewhere lately, she is thrilled with the results of the election.

“The East Lansing Film Festival starts tomorrow, so I’ve had my mind on other things,” she said. “It is just amazing, but you know, I am an intuitive person and I’ve always felt that this could happen.”

For some, however, disappointment was the theme of the night.

Council candidate Ben Eysselinck said even though the election did not go the way he had planned, he still has a passion for East Lansing.

“I’m feeling disappointed of course, but I want to congratulate Ruth and Susan,” he said. “I am still going to wake up loving East Lansing as much as I did this morning. This is just a tremendous learning experience and I’m glad I did it.”

Eysselinck said he will continue in his capacity as vice chair of the Historic District Commission, and also said he wouldn’t rule out running again.

“I will continue to serve in that and in the neighborhoods. I’m not going to close any doors,” he said.

Going into the night, recent MSU graduate and council candidate Sam Artley was happy with the way that the campaign went.

“Overall it’s been extremely successful,” Artley said. “I’ve had way more support than I ever thought I would, being a younger candidate. I’ve been very blessed to have the support that I did.”

During Artley’s concession at Harper’s Brewpub in East Lansing she thanked her supporters.

“I want to thank everyone who supported me from the beginning,” she said. “Really, this is not about tonight, it’s about moving forward and what’s next for the city and for me, personally,” she said.

Artley said she was disappointed in the lack of student turnout.