*Updated Thursday evening*

In a surprising upset, Bellevue’s Mayor Claudia Balducci defeated Jane Hague in a three-to-two margin for Position 6 of the King County Council.

Balducci was floored by the results.

“I really did expect it was going to be definitive one way or the other,” she said. “We were either going to get our message across to the voters or we wouldn’t. But I was really surprised by the margin. I did not see that happening.”

Balducci was elected to Bellevue’s City Council in 2004 and mayor in 2014. She is a member of Sound Transit’s board of directors and has helped guide the East Link light rail line.

She is the former director of King County’s Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention.

Balducci will serve as mayor through the end of the year, and will be sworn in early in 2016.

“I have a few things in the hopper,” she said. “I’d like to continue work on a ballot measure to ask voters for the next phase of transit building in east county.”

In ostensibly a non-partisan race, Balducci garnered support from progressive groups.

Hague joined the King County council in 1994, elected as a Republican, and remained on ever since. She was also a Bellevue City Council member before her King County position.

Her 21-year tenure on the council ended as the District 6 (Bellevue, Medina, Mercer Island, Kirkland, Redmond, Woodinville) voters went with someone with a more liberal bent.

Balducci said she will get an idea of the scene before jumping into her new position.

“I’m not coming there with this huge plan I need everyone to start working on,” she said. “I want to learn the lay of the land. I’ve been around this council enough that I think I have a good idea, but I still need to figure out what’s ongoing.”

Hague told the Reporter that she has been honored to serve the Eastside and is proud of the projects and services she had a hand in, such as the Meydenbauer Center, Downtown housing and Eastside Youth Services.

“These projects meant a lot to me and I worked with so many of you for a Bellevue that is liveable and welcoming. We stand on the shoulders of giants and we must continue to keep a vision for the future,” she said.

Metropolitan King County Council District No. 6

Claudia Balducci: 59.6% – 19,352

Jane Hague: 40.22% – 13,059