Challengers swept the Chapel Hill Town Council race Tuesday night, unseating two incumbents.

Jessica Anderson rose from political obscurity to become the newest town council member and higher vote-getter in Tuesday’s election. She took in 5,318 votes, just under 17 percent of the total cast.

Anderson spoke with WCHL following the election:

 

Incumbent Donna Bell came in second with 4,485 votes, or 14.3 percent. She was the only one of three incumbents re-elected as four-term council member Jim Ward and one-term member Lee Storrow lost to first time candidates Nancy Oates and Michael Parker.

Oates finished third with 4,449 votes, Parker fourth with 4,186, taking in 14.2 percent and 13.3 percent respectively.

More 2015 election results.

Anderson and Oates were endorsed by CHALT, the Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town, a group formed to protest recent development decisions approved by the outgoing council.

Parker and Bell received endorsements from a host of other organizations including the Sierra Club, The INDY Week and the Hank Anderson Breakfast Club.

Parker spoke with WCHL following the election:

 

Of the remaining candidates, Jim Ward finished fifth, David Schwartz sixth, Storrow seventh, Adam Jones eighth and Paul Neebe ninth.

Overall, it was a good night for challengers in Chapel Hill.  Pam Hemminger became the first challenger to defeat an incumbent mayor in Chapel Hill in at least five decades.  Like Anderson and Oates, Hemminger was endorsed by CHALT.