Cary, N.C. — Former Cary Town Councilman Harold Weinbrecht beat out incumbent Mayor Ernie McAlister Tuesday night with a 16 percentage-point win.

About 58 percent of the votes went to Weinbrecht, while McAlister had 42 percent, according to Wake County’s election results posted online.

"We're excited," Weinbrecht said after hearing the results. "We were out-spent at least 6-to-1. We remained positive through it all and kept to our message through it all."

McAlister declined to comment about the election late Tuesday, saying he was too disappointed to speak.

Weinbrecht, 51, attributed his victory to grassroots campaigning. 

"We got one vote at a time," he said.

His top priorities as the new mayor-elect include: balanced growth with available infrastructure, reducing school overcrowding and protecting the environment.

Also in Cary, Erv Portman was named the winner in the Cary Town Council At-Large race after he drew 69 percent of the vote. Gale Adock was elected to Cary’s District D seat with 54 percent of the vote.

The District B race offered the state the first chance to experiment with an "instant runoff."

Incumbent Nels Roseland lagged behind challengers Don Frantz and Vickie Maxwell, who had 39 percent and 34 percent of the vote, respectively. In the coming days, election officials will review the ballots cast for Roseland, because he was third, to see which of the other candidates were the second choice of his voters. The votes will then be assigned to either Frantz or Maxwell, and a winner will be declared.