Coleman election nightSt. Paul voters overwhelmingly backed Mayor Chris Coleman for a second term on Tuesday. The Democrat garnered support from 69 percent of voters, easily defeating challenger Eva Ng.

“Our work is not done here,” Coleman told supporters gathered in a ballroom at the St. Paul Hotel shortly after the polls closed. “We’re on the verge of something great here in old St. Paul.”

Coleman’s margin of victory was almost identical to four years ago, when he ousted incumbent Randy Kelly. Ng was endorsed by the Republican party — a mark of dubious distinction in a town dominated by Democrats.

Coleman openly flirted with a run for governor next year. But he surprised supporters and political observers last month when he announced that he would not seek the state’s top post.

In St. Paul’s school board contests, incumbent Elona Street-Stewart was the top vote-getter, with support from 22 percent of voters. She’ll be joined by fellow Democrat John Brodrick and newcomer Jean O’Connell. Incumbent Tom Goldstein fell fewer than 400 votes short of retaining his post. O’Connell was the only candidate in the field to be endorsed by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, a distinction that likely helped put her over the top.

In the contest to fill a two-year post on the school board created by the departure of Tom Conlon midway through his term, Democrat Vallay Moua Varro defeated Republican Pat Igo by a 59-40 percent margin.

St. Paul residents narrowly voted to adopt instant-runoff voting for municipal elections. The ballot measure drew support from 52 percent of voters. Given how contentious the contest was between the pro- and anti-IRV advocates, it seems likely that the result will be challenged. Minneapolis utilized the instant-runoff system, whereby voters rank candidates in order of preference, for the first time on Tuesday.