Four incumbents were running as a team for four spots Tuesday in the Republican primary election for City Council — against one former councilman.

That former councilman, Bruce Kelley, not only made it onto the general election ballot, he got more votes than any of the other candidates.

The odd man out turned out to be six-year incumbent Michael Haire.

Joining Kelley on the November ballot will be council members Matt Cacciotti, Dave Butterbaugh and Christie Jordan.

Unofficial tallies show Kelly with 2,459, Cacciotti with 2,397, Butterbaugh with 2,252, Jordan with 1,968, and Haire with 1,916.

“That’s very nice,” Kelley said, when informed that he’d gotten the highest vote total. “It’s very humbling.”

Asked if the result surprised him, he hedged.

“If it was a surprise, it was a pleasant surprise,” he said.

Although he lost his last election, for mayor, against current mayor Matt Pacifico, he’d done well previously when he ran for City Council and thus had a “broad base of support.”

He worked hard during this campaign, earning the endorsement of the Blair-Bedford Central Labor Council, sending out both a Republican and a Democratic mailer, using money that was left over from his mayoral campaign.

“No sense running in this election and having a bank balance when it’s over,” he said.

Haire was alternately philosophical and a touch bitter.

“What can you say?” he asked. “You bust your ass for six years; you’d think people would appreciate it.”

He’s not mad, he stated.

“It is what it is,” he said. “I have other things to do. I’ll go do them.”

Others will need “to step up” now, he said.

Kelley’s victory surprised him, said Haire. “Be careful what you wish for,” he warned.

Council has consumed his life, but leaving it won’t be “heartbreaking,” he said.

“I wish everybody luck,” he said. “I’ll go home to my wife and kids.”

Jordan, who spent election evening at Family Pizza on Pleasant Valley Boulevard, edged Haire for the final slot.

When she learned that she was in fourth place, in position to claim a spot on the November ballot, with 80 percent of the precincts counted, she smiled a private smile.

When she learned that she’d clinched that spot, she said, twice, “I did not.”

Then she said “Wow.”

She’d been appointed two years ago to fill Pacifico’s council seat when he became mayor.

Winning an election — even in a primary — is better, she said.

But the candidate she nosed out, Haire, has been a “phenomenal councilman,” she said. “I highly respect him,” she added.

Haire is a “very good man,” said Butterbaugh, meditatively munching a stalk of celery at Family Pizza, after learning that he, Butterbaugh, would also be on the November ballot, by finishing in third place.

He had no idea how things would turn out, he said.

Cacciotti, who finished less than 100 votes short of Kelley, repeatedly said he was humbled upon learning he’d won a spot in November. He thanked the voters and anyone connected with his campaign, including God and his wife, “Dr. Jen,” a college professor who teaches nursing.

He knocked on hundreds of doors, he said.

He wants to help make Altoona like it was when they were both growing up here, said his wife.

Natalie A. Barlick-Reed was unopposed on the Democratic ballot, winning 1,764 votes.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.