Residents cast their ballots at the Community Center on Election Day. A total of 4,479 voters turned out at the polls. Chance Viles / American Journal

Gary Rairdon held on to his Ward 4 City Council seat by 67 votes Tuesday, defeating challenger Kristina Yurko 479-312.

Voter turnout was 4,905, representing 33% of the city’s 15,087 registered voters, according to City Clerk Angela Holmes.

Rairdon was pleased with the turnout.

Rairdon

“The flow of voters never seemed to stop,” he said Tuesday night, adding that it was “amazing” to see new voters register as well.

One issue for the council going forward is clear, he said.

“Most importantly, I think collaboration with the schools and city is big. It speaks volumes how many people came out and said ‘Something needs to be done,'” he said.

Rairdon, the council president, said he hopes to keep that position as well. The council elects its president annually in December.

Yurko, a newcomer to Westbrook politics, said she enjoyed the race despite the outcome.

“It was a great race and I look forward to working with Gary Rairdon as a resident,” she said.

She said she may run again for elected office in Westbrook.

“Westbrook is my home and enjoyed the race, and I think potentially yes if the right position came along,” Yurko said.

Ward 4 is on the west side of the city and includes the Community Center and Congin School. The ward is bordered by the city limits to the west, the Presumpscot River to the south and Cumberland and Bridge streets to the east.

Rairdon has represented the ward since 2013.

This year’s race took a negative turn late last month, he said, when a Westbrook resident who is a Portland Public Schools teacher sent an email endorsing Yurko, as well as local School Committee candidates challenging incumbents, to every email address in the Westbrook school system.

Rairdon said Adam Waxman’s Oct. 27 email characterized him as “anti-school” and equates to defamation.

“It has become divisive and that needs to stop, but votes spoke harder than voices,” Rairdon said Tuesday night.

Waxman, who did not return a request for comment, sent the endorsement email from his Portland Public Schools account, which is against Portland Public Schools’ policy.

Portland Superintendent Xavier Botana said Tuesday that Waxman had sent out an apology email the same day, clarifying it was meant to come from a personal email. Rairdon said recipients of the original email he has been in contact with hadn’t received that apology.

“I asked our employee to send an email from his personal address to the same original mailing list that received the first email acknowledging his error,” Botana said.