Retired City Clerk Robert Whynott ran a strong second to earn an at-large seat in the City Council and Ann Frontiero Mulcahey earned the right to succeed Gus Foote as Ward 2 councilor tonight when she defeated Roger Hussey amid the Gloucester's elections.

Whynott, who also served two terms on the council in the 1970s and 1980s, racked up 3.038 votes to finish second to Sefatia Romeo Theken's 3,300, and Whynott's showing essentially bounced Jason Grow from the council. Grow, the current Ward 1 councilor making his first fun for an at-large seat, finished fifth and last in the race for four seats, just 20 votes behind current Council President and fourth-place finisher Bruce Tobey. Incumbent Joseph Ciolino ran third with 2,856 votes, to Tobey's 2,810 and Grow's 2,790.

Frontiero Mulcahey, 66, who has long been active with community and government groups, including the city's Traffic Commission, defeated Hussey by a vote of 368 to 244, carrying both precincts in Ward 2. She edged Hussey by a count of 156-147 in Precinct 1, but rolled up 147-97 margin in Precinct 2.

In the race for School Committee, challengers and veterans education activists Roger Garberg and Kathleen Clancy earned seats by finishing second and third, respectively, behind top vote-getter Valerie Gilman. Incumbent Nancy Harrison finished seventh in the race for six seats and was ousted.

In a lone referendum question, voters opted by a margin of 3,048 to 1,878 to pull the police chief's position out of Civiol Service.

As to other offices, Mayor Carolyn Kirk is assured of re-election tonight since one-time challenger and outgoing at-large councilor Sharon George withdrew a week after bouncing the third initial candidate, Daniel Ruberti, in a September primary.

Also, four other ward councilors breezed through their races uncontested. Paul McGeary faced no opposition in his bid to succeed councilor-at-large candidate Jason Grow in Ward 1, while incumbents Steve Curcuru and Jackie Hardy were re-elected in Wards 3 and 4, respectively, and outgoing School Committee Chairman Gregory Verga was unopposed to take over the Ward 5 seat from Philip Devlin. Though Devlin's name remained on the ballot because he missed the city's notification deadline, he announced his withdrawal from his re-election bid in late August.

For more updates, call the Times Election Hot Line at 978-283-7000, Ext. 3465. To view more results, click to gloucestertimes.com/election.

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For full coverage of Gloucester's 2009 election, look to tomorrow's print and online edition of the Gloucester Daily Times and gloucestertimes.com.