City councillor Laura Cabott was elected the new mayor of Whitehorse by a comfortable margin on Thursday.

From the very first polling returns to reach city hall at 8:13 p.m., Cabott was in the lead.

It was a lead she never relinquished, as the gap between her and runner-up Patti Balsillie only grew larger as the night went on.

When the last results came in at 9:03 p.m., Cabott had stretched her advantage over Balsillie to 955 votes. She finished with a count of 2,897, or 43 per cent of the votes cast for the three mayoral candidates.

Balsillie finished with 1,942 votes or 29 per cent of the votes, while Samson Hartland drew 1,898 votes, or 28.2 per cent, just 50 votes back of Balsillie.

Hartland was right behind Balsillie in the returns all night, but never overtook her.

Serving her first term as councillor over the last three years, Cabott arrived at city hall at about 9:30 p.m. to speak with the media and others on hand in the city council chambers.

Throughout the night, there were few but the media and city staff on hand, unlike previous municipal elections when the chambers were abuzz with candidates and their supporters.

“I was ready to start on day one to offer my leadership and I am excited about that,” Cabott told reporters. “I am excited to work with the full team.

“So I am ready ... I feel fantastic.”

Cabott said she wanted to watch the last of the returns come in before making her way to city hall. She spent the evening at her campaign headquarters in Copper Ridge with family and friends, and her campaign team.

As the results started to roll in, the mayor-designate said she was cautiously optimistic as she watched.

“When the last poll came in, I was just relieved.”

Cabott said she and her team put a lot of work into the campaign.

Every night and weekend for the past six weeks, she was knocking on doors and reaching out on the different social media platforms.

Her campaign team, she said, was a “good group of people and a good cross-section of residents who helped me out.

“It was definitely a step up from running for councillor.”

Cabott said she spoke with several sectors, from small building contractors to large corporations and special interest groups.

“I met with a whole bunch of people to get a sense of what is important for Whitehorse residents, the people who work here and live here.”

Cabott thanked Balsillie and Hartland for their candidacies and said they ran good campaigns that were civil and collegial.

From a list of 19,015 eligible voters, 7,037 or 37 per cent cast ballots.

The turnout for the 2018 election was also 37 per cent, compared to 35 per cent in 2015 and 43.7 per cent in 2012.

The new council is scheduled to be sworn in on Nov. 1.

Balsillie and Hartland have offered their congratulations to Cabott and expressed confidence in her ability to serve as mayor.

“I am really proud to congratulate Laura and all the new council,” Balsillie said in an interview last night after the final results were in.

She said she is disappointed.

“I have been at this for the last nine months,” she said. “It has consumed all my time, and it has been a beautiful ride.”

Balsillie said she is excited to watch the new council over the next three years, to watch them work, and to watch them grow.

But she’s not done with municipal politics, she insisted.

“I will be back,” she said. “I will be back!”

Hartland said in an interview this morning he feels “pretty darn good.

“I knew going into last night’s results that these things can go either way, so we were ready for that,” he said.

“I think the city is in great hands,” Hartland said. “I have nothing but support and respect and positive things to say about Laura.”

Hartland said he is blessed to have served the city for three terms as a councillor – the last six years and a term previously.

But also a blessing now is that he’ll get to spend more time with his family.

Hartland said being a member of city council requires a lot of work, and a lot of time.

He said he conveyed that message to candidates who were running in the election and contacted him to get a bit of insight into the job as councillor.

Coun. Dan Boyd, who was re-elected, was in council chambers for most of the evening to watch results come in.

Cabott, he said, is passionate about what she believes in, and she does her homework.

“I know she works really hard and I’m looking forward to working with her,” he said. “We worked well in the past on the last council.

“I think she will be a good mayor. She knows the community well.”

The incoming mayor said she’ll be getting down to business right away. Orientation for the council-designate will begin tomorrow.

In keeping with her election platform, Cabott said addressing the housing issue in the city is at the top of her agenda.

“We need to jump on that right away,” she said, noting a couple of other priorities such as battling climate change.

The city has made some progress on the climate change front but more needs to be done, she said.

Cabott said among the first orders of business for her is to have a strategic planning session among the members of council where everybody has a voice.

It is important to build consensus and collaboration, to build understanding in order to come up with common goals, she said.

Cabott said she looks forward to meeting with Doris Bill, the chief of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, and Amanda Leas, the new chief of the Ta’än Kwach’än Council. She said meeting with Yukon cabinet ministers will be important to get up to speed on files.

With orientation day set for Saturday – 9 a.m. sharp – Cabott said, it’s good to get going.

Some of the orientation she’s already done with her first term on council, she noted.

“Do I know everything? Absolutely not.”

Cabott said working closely with city administration is key, as administration is the backbone of city operations.

Dialogue, Cabott insisted, is important.

The lawyer by profession said she’ll promote more public participation in city business, to ensure all voices are heard.

“I think that people realized now is the time they want strong leadership at the city, somebody with experience at city hall.”

Mayor Dan Curtis did not seek a fourth term.