Gainesville City Commission candidates for months hit the campaign trail to push their agendas, speak at forums, knock on doors and hold signs bearing their names in hopes of reaching thousands of voters.

For some, their effort paid off.

On Tuesday, Gainesville voters elected newcomers Harvey Ward Jr. and David Arreola and re-elected Helen Warren to the city commission.

Just 11.8 percent of Gainesville’s 88,158 voters took to the polls to vote on candidates who make decisions that impact Gainesville residents on a daily basis. The Supervisor of Elections office reported 10,471 ballots were cast, nearly half of which were done by mail or early voting.

Many thought the District 2 race would go to a runoff due to the number of candidates, but it was the first race called by the elections office.

Ward, 49, took home District 2 with 50.8 percent of votes, beating out retired Army Col. Perry Clawson and Sheryl Eddie.

“I’m excited to get started the work of the people,” Ward said.

District 2 brought in 4,455 votes. Clawson, 59, earned 26.6 percent of votes, while Eddie, 51, received 22.7 percent.

“It’s a rewarding process,” Ward said. “I had an opportunity to talk to tens of thousands of Gainesville citizens. I’ve enjoyed every minute of the campaign.”

Ward, the executive director at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, grew up in Alachua County. He is an Eastside High School, Santa Fe College and University of Florida graduate. Some of the campaign promises Ward said he will address soon after taking office include pushing city elections to the fall and bridging the gender pay gap.

“I want to make sure women that are working for the city of Gainesville are making as much as their male counterparts,” he said.

In District 3, Arreola upset incumbent Craig Carter, gaining 66.4 percent of votes.

Just 3,113 voters took to the polls to decide the race, a surprise to both Carter and Arreola.

“I feel very humbled,” Arreola said. “The result that we got tonight is not at all what we are thinking about. The citizens have given me a huge responsibility.”

Arreola, 26, is the director of sales and operations at 21st Century Communications and will become the youngest member of the city commission.

Arreola said he soon plans to meet with City Manager Anthony Lyons and Gainesville Regional Utilities General Manager Ed Bielarski to discuss key issues facing the city. He said he also plans to meet with Carter to ease his transition onto the board.

Throughout his campaign, Arreola used social media to reach voters and speak about small businesses and job growth. He said he will now use the tool to make city government more accessible to citizens.

“You have to be aware of the changing modes of communications,” Arreola said. “How people consume information these days is primarily through their mobile devices.”

Carter, 56, a Realtor and member of multiple boards throughout the city, said he lost in part due to the “Trump effect” — a voter backlash on Republicans — despite the race being nonpartisan.

Carter said he spoke to Arreola late Tuesday evening and congratulated Arreola on the win, but expressed his disappointment in Arreola for sending out mailers with misinformation.

“I’m very proud of my campaign and we did everything with integrity, and we did not deviate from that,” Carter said.

Arreola said he found Carter to be “gracious” and thanked him for the call.

Carter’s last meeting with the city commission will be April 20.

The closest race was the At-Large seat, where Warren gained 54.6 percent of 10,144 votes over Jenn Powell.

Warren could not be reached for comment.

Warren, 63, is a member and former chair of the Empowerment Center Oversight Advisory Board, a panel of city and county officials that oversees the homeless shelters at Dignity Village and Grace Marketplace. She has highlighted her previous three years on the commission focusing on homelessness and affordable housing. She plans to do much the same in the years to come.

Despite the loss, Powell said she was humbled by the amount of support she received.

“I’m really proud of my entire campaign,” she said.

Powell, 38, registered to run against Warren on the last day of qualifying. She said her entire campaign team was made up of volunteers and she attracted lots of new voters.

“Everything (Warren) has been saying, we’re going to be holding her feet to the fire,” Powell said. “Had we had more time, we would’ve won by a landslide.”

Contact reporter Andrew Caplan at andrew.caplan@gvillesun.com or on Twitter @AACaplan.