Justin Costa was elected to the Portland City Council on Tuesday, while former state legislator John Eder won an at-large School Board seat.

In a second School Board race, social worker Stephanie Hatzenbuehler won the District 4 seat – being vacated by Costa – with 3,772 votes, or 71 percent of the vote, over Rebecca Wartell, who got 1,507 votes.

In a three-way race for the city council’s District 4 seat, Costa got 51 percent, or 2,859 votes. Former Portland police officer Raymond Ruby, unit director of the Portland Boys & Girls Club, came in second with 1,544 votes, and Rosemary Mahoney, a field director at the Maine Education Association teachers union, got 1,188 votes.

District 4 includes parts of Washington Avenue and the Deering, East Deering and Back Cove neighborhoods.

Costa replaces long-time councilor Cheryl Leeman, who served for 30 years and has consistently been a more conservative voice on a council with a more liberal or progressive lean in recent years. Leeman said she decided to step down to spend more time with her family.

In District 5, David Brenerman, a former city councilor and state lawmaker, ran unopposed for the seat left open by Councilor John Coyne.

District 5 includes the North Deering, Deering Center and Riverton neighborhoods.

Also in District 5, incumbent School Board member Marnie Morrione ran unopposed, but there were two open seats on the nine-member School Board.

In the citywide at-large School Board race, political veteran Eder beat businessman Gene Landry with 11,783 votes, or 52 percent, and Landry had 11,093 votes, or 48 percent.

Eder, a Green Independent who served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives in the 2000s, was active most recently in efforts to save Congress Square Plaza.

He is outreach group director for a political consulting group, Nonstop Grassroots, and said he would be more of an advocate for change on the board.

Landry, who owns an online video production company and is a former television news reporter, said he supported much of the current board and administration’s work and would focus on recruiting and retaining good teachers and improving test scores.

In the District 4 race, Hatzenbuehler, a political newcomer, said she ran to strengthen ties between schools and the larger community .

Portland’s School Board is the state’s largest, with a $102 million budget and more than 7,000 students.

Staff Writer Noel K. Gallagher can be contacted at 791-6387 or at:

ngallagher@pressherald.com