The Alexandria Democratic Committee suffered a setback Tuesday when two of its incumbent candidates were ousted by voters on Election Day. Republican Frank Fannon and independent candidate Alicia Hughes each won a place on the City Council. Incumbent Democrats Tim Lovain and Justin Wilson will step down from their seats this summer, when Fannon and Hughes will be installed as the council’s newest members. Some were calling for immediate changes in the party.

"The buck stops with Susan Kellom," said outgoing Councilman Ludwig Gaines, calling for a new party leader. "She took credit for the victories when Democrats won, but she’s also got to take credit for the defeat."

Republican Frank Fannon’s generations of history in the city paid off for a candidate who used his family’s deep roots as an asset during the campaign. Independent candidate Alicia Hughes was perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening, emerging from the obscurity of Early Childhood Commission to the spotlight of a campaign where she challenged incumbent Democrats to explain their actions during candidate forums. Republicans adopted her as one of their own, running a coordinated campaign that encouraged people to use less than six available votes to leverage influence in an election with only 15 percent of registered voters participating.

"We need a regional presence for the party," said Mark Ellmore, who brought in Republicans from Northern Virginia to stump for the Alexandria ticket in a tactic he calls Code Red. "We can no longer have isolated elections."

THE RETURNS WERE posted on the city registrar’s Web site shortly after polls closed at 7 p.m. Republicans huddled around a projection screen at Pat Troy’s restaurant as excitement mounted Tuesday night. Shortly after 7:30 p.m., Fannon and Hughes broke into the top six as individual precincts were posted one by one. When all 26 precincts reported shortly after 8 p.m., the capacity crowd roared approval for their winning candidates.

"This is my 11th election," said Republican chairman Chris Marston as he grabbed the microphone to introduce the victorious challengers. "But this is the first time we’ve ever had any winners."

The elephant in the room was Plunkee, the cartoon mascot adopted by Republicans in March to encourage selective voting known as "plunking" or sometimes "bullet voting." By encouraging voters to use fewer than the six votes that were available, the strategy sought to maximize the power of the vote by concentrating them in a targeted way. Sample ballots include a cartoon image of Plunkee and described plunking as "a time-tested political strategy used to ensure some representation for opposition and minority parties in at-large elections."

"Plunking won the night," said Pat Malone, a Fannon organizer who said his campaign’s goal was 9,400 votes. "With the campaign we ran, we should have won."

THE MOOD WAS much more subdued at the victory celebration for the Alexandria Democratic Committee, where the party faithful slogged through an evening of concession speeches and calls to redouble their efforts in the future. Many of the Democrats suspected they might have done better if a competitive mayor’s race had attracted larger numbers of votes or if the May ballot had been consolidated with a November General Assembly election.

"Who knew? A washed up politician at 30," said Wilson, the youngest member of council who was elected 21 months ago in a special election. "I’d be lying if I said this doesn’t hurt."

Although Mayor Bill Euille cruised into a third term with no opposition, the rest of the Democratic ticket struggled against serious challenges at the polls. Fannon received more votes than veteran Democrats Del Pepper and Paul Smedberg. Hughes received more votes than Lovain and Wilson, pushing them out of the winner’s circle and removing them from public office. Former Mayor Kerry Donley received the most votes of the 10 candidates, putting him in a likely position to be elected vice mayor by his colleagues when the next council convenes this summer.

"I’ve always said in my many years in public service," Donley announced to Democrats gathered at the Carlyle Club Tuesday night, "You win gracefully and you lose gracefully."