2:15 p.m.:
Correction
Thomas Coward was previously identified as a City Council incumbent. He is not.

SOUTH PORTLAND -- Voters here re-elected two incumbent school board members, an incumbent city councilor and a newcomer to the council, according to preliminary results.

Newcomer Patricia Smith, a human resources and domestic sales director, won the District 2 City Council seat, defeating Steven Onos, by a vote of 7,527 to 4,207.

Smith, who moved to South Portland only three years ago from Pennsylvania, hopes to bring new ideas to the council. Onos had served on the South Portland Board of Education from 2001 to 2007.

Incumbent Councilor James Hughes defeated challenger Mark Gandolfo, 7,288 to 4,023, for the District 5 Council seat. Hughes, a self-employed computer programmer, said government efficiency is his top priority. Gandolfo, a retired Coast Guard lieutenant commander, is currently on the city's Planning Board.

Councilor Thomas Coward did not face an opponent and won the Distrit 1 seat easily, receiving 10,733 votes out of 13,996 ballots cast.

On the Board of Education, incumbents Karen Callaghan and incumbent Ralph Baxter Jr. retained their board seats, defeating challengers Kendall Fassett and Jay Allen, both of whom were critical of the board decision last spring redrew the city's elementary school district lines.

Callaghan received 6,826 votes, and Baxter received 5,894 votes. Allen received 3,388 votes, and Fassett received 3,226 votes.

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