With the absentee votes still uncounted in the hotly contested Ward 2 aldermanic race, Gina Calder ’03 EPH ’08 is leading Trumbull diníng hall chef Frank Douglass Jr. by a margin of only 14, but Douglass said he is accepting defeat.

“Right now, I’m going to say I lost and I’m going to tuck my tail in and back up,” Douglass said.

When the results were announced in Ward 2, Calder’s supporters cheered and congratulated her. But members of her campaign are currently gathering at the City Clerk’s public hearing room to wait for the counting of the absentee ballots in case there is a surprise reversal in the results.

In Ward 22, incumbant Greg Morehead won a sweeping victory over Lisa Hopkins and Cordelia Thorpe. Morehead received 204 votes, Thorpe earned 23 and Hopkins clocked in with at 98 tallies, a substantial improvment over her performance in the Ward 2 special election last spring.

Dubbing himself the “community’s choice,” Morehead began his victory speech by subtracting 45 from 204 to show what he said is his ability win even if Yalies had not voted in the election.