PITTSBURG -- For the next four years, the Pittsburg City Council will include Sal Evola, Pete Longmire and Marilyn Craft.

Incumbents Evola and Longmire cruised to easy victories with 25 percent of the votes each, more than double that of any of their challengers. Challenger Craft's margin of victory was much smaller -- she got 12 percent of the vote -- but it was enough to beat challenger and former Mayor Bob Lewis by 2 percent.

"I'm just honored and humbled, and I pledge to continue to keep Pittsburg moving in the right direction," Evola said.

Evola and Longmire are the sitting mayor and vice mayor, respectively. As incumbents, one of their biggest selling points is that crime in the city is at a 50-year low. They've also worked to secure an eBART station and helped redevelop the downtown area.

"It's all of it -- the fiscal responsibility, the reduction in crime," Evola said, when asked why his and Longmire's margins of victory were so high. "Even though there are still problems and we still have work to do, I feel that the city has gotten it under control. If you look at Pittsburg's past, and what our crime rate was in the '90s compared to now, it's a tremendous difference. I think people recognize that."

Craft, when asked for a reaction, said she was "tired" after a long night of watching results being tallied, but she sounded excited about the win.

"We were up to 1:30 trying to see what was coming, and praying and hoping," Craft said. "I just feel really blessed right now and hope that I can continue to make a difference in this community. I really appreciate everyone for coming out and supporting; I really do. "

She credited her victory with time spent canvassing door-to-door, and she said she'd heard from a lot of young voters who supported her campaign, and that the surge of "walk-in" voters -- as opposed to absentees -- helped her secure the win.

"Local hiring -- we need jobs in our community, we need to step up our training programs and more opportunity in this community, especially for our young people," Craft said, detailing her main objectives moving forward.

The Pittsburg City Council race comprised two incumbents and six challengers for a total of eight candidates vying for three open spaces on the council.

For the city, some of the biggest and most contentious issues include the proposed WestPac crude oil rail project, continuing to keep a damper on crime in the city and ways to develop business downtown, including the area near the city's civic center, where an eBART station is expected to open in 2018.

Challengers Emmanuel Ogunleye garnered about 10 percent of the vote, and Cesar Alvarado got 8 percent. Cecilia Anderson and George Monterrey are taking up the rear, and each of their vote counts were about half that of Craft, Ogunleye, Alvarado and Lewis.

Contact Nate Gartrell at 925-779-7174, and follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/NateGartrell.