The numbers for Voting District 3, which runs along West Main Street, were the first to be announced on Election Day.
"Cardinale, 19," committeewoman Diane Stuke called out to a hushed crowd as she wrote the numbers onto the big board. "Walter, 57."
A steady stream of claps erupted.
Down the line in District 3, save for the highway superintendent position, the GOP had trounced the Democratic candidates.
The trend continued, and so did the clapping, smiling and fist-pumping throughout the night at the East Main Street headquarters downtown.
In the end, the GOP captured an impressive sweep of four Town Board positions that were up for grabs, including the all-important supervisor job that had been held the past six years by Democrat Phil Cardinale.
Mr. Walter called the results a combination of "fatigue" with Mr. Cardinale as well as a national trend toward Republicans, spurred in part by opposition to President Barak Obama's health care plan.
"We hit 5,000 doors and the sentiment was running against Phil day in and day out," said Mr. Walter, a Wading River attorney who defeated Mr. Cardinale by 241 votes. "And what helped us immensely was when the president, in August, was really pushing the health care bill."
He recalled that, in his travels across town, people would ask him and his team if they were Democrats or Republicans, and whether they were for or against the federal health care bill.
When they said they were Republicans and opposed the health care bill, "they would say, 'You've got our vote,'รขâ" Mr. Walter said.
Almost 39 percent, or 7,947 of the town's 20,454 registered voters, cast a vote for supervisor on a seasonably warm Election Day, according to the county Board of Elections results, which remain unofficial.
Incumbent Republican Councilman John Dunleavy was the top vote getter among the Town Board candidates, followed by his running mates Jodi Giglio and George Gabrielsen. Mr. Gabrielsen will fill an unexpired two-year term.
Mr. Dunleavy attributed the results to "hard work and being for the people."
He said he didn't think any one issue swayed the results, but, now that Republicans have all the votes on the board, "progress is going to be made."
At the Democrats' campaign headquarters -- about two blocks west on East Main Street -- Mr. Cardinale said he knew early that his chances of capturing a fourth term looked bleak.
Mr. Cardinale spent much of the night quietly pacing, sipping from a plastic cup of water as the numbers were announced.
"When I looked at those first figures, I knew at best it was going to be a long evening," he said. "With the first returns from Aquebogue, I knew it was a different race than the last several races I've won. And I usually pick up a few hundred votes in Wading River. That didn't happen.
"In many ways it was an outpouring of people going back to their registrations," he continued. "That's always an issue out here because you have about 2,500 more Republican registrants; you have to keep them on your side of the ledger."
Mr. Cardinale, a Jamesport attorney, conceded the supervisor's race shortly after 10 p.m. when it became clear he still needed to make up at least 200 votes and there was only one district left to count. Joined by his son and his executive assistant, Bill Welsh, he walked to Republican headquarters and shook Mr. Walter's hand.
"Honestly, you ran a very impressive race," Mr. Cardinale said as the two shared about a minute-long pleasantry.
Consolation prizes for the Dems came in the form of the highway superintendent and town clerk races, which went to incumbent Democrats George Woodson and Diane Wilhelm, respectively.
"Our party has had better nights," Democratic committeeman and former Town Board member Rob Pike said as he sat quietly in a somber headquarters. "We'll have better nights again."
mwhite@timesreview.com