CUMBERLAND — Town Councilor Shirley Storey-King on Tuesday defeated challenger Christina Mitchell, 1,506 to 938, to earn a fifth at-large term.

Unopposed incumbent Councilors Ron Copp (West Cumberland) and George Turner (Cumberland Foreside) received 1,863 and 2,039 votes, respectively.

They, like Storey-King, have each served 12 years on the panel.

Storey-King is a seventh-grade humanities teacher at Greely Middle School, and Cumberland has been her legal residence for 56 years, since she was 1.

This election marked only the second time in 12 years that the Shirley Lane resident has faced an opponent. She ran against Bill Richards in 2006 to replace her father, Harlan Storey, whose 30 years on the panel date to when Cumberland had a board of selectmen.

“I look forward to serving the people of Cumberland for another term, doing what I can to make their lives easier,” Storey-King said Tuesday night.

Mitchell – like Storey-King, a longtime educator – thanked the residents who voted Tuesday.

“It is truly encouraging and shows that people really want to be heard,” she said. “It was striking for me to interact with people as a candidate because they would really open up to tell a virtual stranger what they want and need. I hope going forward there is more communication between our community and the town boards, and especially between the separate town board members themselves.”

Both candidates lauded each other’s care for their community.

Voter turnout, according to the town clerk’s office, was 41 percent.

Alex Lear can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.

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