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Two-term City Councilwoman Phyllis Marcuccio won an upset victory over incumbent Susan R. Hoffmann to become Rockville's next mayor.

Two incumbent council members, John Britton and Piotr Gajewski, were re-elected to second terms. They will be joined on the City Council by West End civic activist Bridget Newton, who was the highest vote-getter, and College Gardens civic activist Mark Pierzchala.

According to unofficial election results released late Tuesday night, Marcuccio won by 313 votes.

"I am absolutely as pleased as someone could be," Marcuccio said as her supporters cheered and toasted her with glasses of champagne.

Marcuccio said she is a first-generation American whose father came to the United States in 1916, and her victory is "truly an American dream."

A few blocks away, Hoffmann gave a tearful and emotional concession.

"I wish Mayor-elect Marcuccio all the luck in the world, and the council," the one-term mayor said.

"This is one great city and it needs to be kept great and move forward and not shut down."

Marcuccio called Hoffmann to ask if she would serve as an advisor to the new council, and Hoffmann said she would offer any help that is needed. Marcuccio also told Hoffmann she would like to continue her green initiatives, the mayor-elect said.

According to city public information officer JoAnn Grbach, Marcuccio collected 3,311 votes, while Hoffmann received 2,998.

Newton received 3,390 votes, followed by Gajewski with 3,240, Britton with 3,056 and Pierzchala with 2,633, according to city officials.

Rounding out the remaining six candidates are Carl Henn with 2,571 votes, Virginia Onley with 2,225, Tom Moore with 2,186, Trapper Martin with 1,521, Waleed Ovase with 1,070 and van Balgooy with 780.

The tallies included absentee ballots.

Clear and bright weather greeted the steady stream of voters who headed to the polls Tuesday morning, and no major glitches were reported throughout the day.

The polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 8 p.m.

Hoffmann and Marcuccio offered voters vastly different approaches to governing.

And in the first race since 1987 that found a sitting council member challenging a sitting mayor, the candidates could not be more dissimilar in the way they voted, in the way they campaigned and in the way they interact with staff and residents.

Hoffmann, a West End resident, served five years on the city Planning Commission and three terms on the City Council before being elected mayor in 2007.

Marcuccio, a nearly life-long resident of East Rockville, served two terms on the City Council before challenging Hoffmann.

The two often found themselves on opposites sides of issues that came before the council, such as the controversial 2010 city budget, which passed by a vote of 3-2, and a vote to take Rockville from twice-weekly trash pickup to once-weekly pick-up, which also passed 3-2.

Hoffmann, 63, county marketing director for Silver Spring, voted for the spending plan and the trash schedule, while Marcuccio, 74, a retired science editor, opposed both.

This year marks the first time since 1995 that two seats were open on the four-member council, as Councilwoman Anne M. Robbins did not seek re-election to a sixth term and Marcuccio gave up her seat to challenge Hoffmann. All council members are elected at large.

Rockville city elections are non-partisan. Terms are two years in length.

Newton, of the West End, has served on the Compensation Commission and the West End Citizens Association committee on Beall's Grant II.

She has promised to protect Rockville's neighborhoods and reform the development application process to get residents earlier.

Gajewski, a King Farm resident, was elected with the highest number of votes of any candidate in 2007.

During the past two years he has been an advocate of transparency and proper governmental process, helping institute Robert's Rules of Order as the official operating procedure for Rockville.

He holds a law degree and is the music director and conductor for the National Philharmonic in residence at The Music Center at Strathmore.

Britton moved to the West End 12 years ago and has been an advocate of pedestrian safety during the past two years.

He is a managing partner of a law firm in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Maryland Attorney General's Environmental Advisory Council, as well as Rockville's representative on the Board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

Pierzchala, a resident of the College Gardens where he served as president of the community civic association, ran for mayor in 2007 and came in second of three.

He is budget hawk who promised to use his analytical skills from being a professional statistician to make sure Rockville's finances are as sound as possible.

Results are not official until next Tuesday.