TROY — Democratic Mayor Patrick Madden was elected to a second term in office in a three-way race that was complicated in its final weeks by political strong-arm tactics by Republican Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin.

According to unofficial results from the county Board of Elections, with all districts reporting Madden had 3,627 votes, Independence Party candidate Rodney Wiltshire had 3,122, and Republican Thomas Reale had 1,455. Absentee ballots are not expected to change the outcome.

A secret tape recording obtained by the Times Union revealed McLaughlin’s efforts to get Reale out of the mayoral contest in an effort to swing support to former Wiltshire, a former City Council president and enrolled Democrat also running on the Green line.

Madden stuck to campaigning on his record, especially his efforts to strengthen the finances of the Collar City by relying on “fact-based budgeting” and removing bookkeeping tricks such as counting revenue from properties that never were sold from the annual spending plan.

"From the get-go I made it clear I was going to do what had to be done," Madden said.

Also, Democrats will keep control of the City Council, though Republican Council President Carmella Mantello was well ahead of Democratic Councilman David Bissember to lead the body. This is the first time that the council president will serve a four-year term, putting the office on the same election schedule as the mayor.

"It says people have confidence in the direction the city is going. Obviously we had a fear-mongering campaign from the opposition," said Councilman Anasha Cummings, leader of the Democratic council majority.

The Democrats have four seats on the council with the outcome of the 2nd District seat to be determined by the absentee ballots. The county Board of Elections will begin counting those ballots Nov. 18.

During the course of four debates this fall, Madden moved away from playing defense about his record. Wiltshire and Reale attacked the mayor for closing the city’s South Troy and Knickerbacker Park pools; raising taxes and creating a trash collection fee; and failing to provide basic city services such as repairing potholes and picking up the garbage.

Madden went on the offensive against Wiltshire in the close of the campaign, blaming him for his performance during his term as council president — a period, Madden argued, that saw the creation of the city’s fiscal morass as Troy spent down $2.6 million of its financial reserves; ran up a $1.9 million deficit; and deferred $6.8 million in state pension payments.

But it was the tape recording of an Oct. 7 meeting between McLaughlin and Reale at GOP party headquarters that overshadowed the final days of the campaign.

During the meeting, McLaughlin and GOP political operatives Rich Crist and Jim Gordon could be heard yelling and using profane language at Reale as they demanded he bow out of the election and endorse Wiltshire. At one point, McLaughlin described himself as the “boss” of the county.

Reale initially suspended his campaign, but did not endorse Wiltshire. The Republican returned to active campaigning at a press conference he held in Monument Square a week before Election Day. Reale said he was bullied and pushed out of the race.

Madden said he didn't know what impact the revelation of the recording had on his re-election victory. City voters exiting the polling's places said they found the recording's content disturbing and were disappointed by McLaughlin's conduct.