Vic McIntosh and Gina Jackson were big winners in the Champaign City Council elections decided on Tuesday night.

McIntosh defeated District 1 challenger Matt Varble with 68 percent of the vote, and Jackson took 80 percent of the District 3 vote to overcome incumbent J.W. Pirtle.

“I was hopeful, but I never expected it to be lopsided,” Jackson said. “I was never confident, just praying for the best.”

Jackson credited family, friends and volunteers for helping her defeat Pirtle, a 22-year veteran of the council. Pirtle’s campaign was hampered by a manslaughter charge and an illness in his family that limited his campaigning time.

Pirtle could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

McIntosh faced a similar challenge from Varble, who stood with Jackson on several issues, but successfully won a third term in District 3.

“I feel great, it makes me feel real good,” McIntosh said. “It’s very telling that the work I’ve done for neighborhoods has made them turn around and give me another term.”

McIntosh fought through an aggressive campaign from Varble, who repeatedly attacked McIntosh and the current council.

“I’m not used to New York politics,” McIntosh said. “I was up against a negative and expensive campaign, and that will make anybody nervous.”

Varble said he was encouraged by the results in his first campaign and would run for the citywide seats when they come up for reelection in 2007.

“I’ve learned a lot from this election and plan to capitalize on the name recognition I’ve created,” Varble said. “We were able to start debating some issues, and I want to continue doing that.”

Varble and McIntosh both said incumbency worked in McIntosh’s favor. With turnout as low as 10 percent in some precincts, Varble said, unseating an incumbent was a too-difficult task.

“It’s awful hard to unseat an incumbent,” McIntosh acknowledged. “My opponent had an uphill battle, and my work within the neighborhoods pulled me through.”

McIntosh said his immediate goals for his next term would be to keep downtown Champaign growing and get the new public library finished on time and on budget.

Jackson said she hoped to work with police and the park district to create more programs for youths and increase the police presence in the city’s parks during the summer.

Elsewhere on the ballot, Democrat Linda Abernathy defeated Republican Vickie Jones to win her first term as the City of Champaign Township Supervisor, and Nicole Storch, Arlene M. Blank, and David Tomlinson won seats on the Champaign School Board.

Jackson spent Tuesday morning driving elderly people to the polls and taping signs up around the city. When it became apparent that she had the election in hand and city workers and news crews began moving in on the new councilwoman, she began to feel the weight of her victory.

“I’m so tired right now, I just want to go to bed,” Jackson said. “I don’t even know when I take office.”