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Army veteran Michael Cunningham defeated Navy veteran Todd Meier by a margin of nearly 2-1 in Isle of Wight County’s Nov. 2 Hardy District School Board race.

Alvin Wilson, who resigned from the position last week, had already planned not to seek a new term, leaving Cunningham and Meier vying for the seat. Cunningham received roughly 61% of the vote to Meier’s 37% out of 2,699 ballots cast, according to unofficial results the Isle of Wight County Registrar’s Office provided just after 8 p.m. Nov. 2. There were 32 write-ins, accounting for just over 1% of the total votes.

Of the 2,699 total, just over 1,000 were absentee ballots. The absentee ballot total includes all early votes cast via mail-in ballots or in person at the Registrar’s Office.

“I’m ready to do what I’ve got to do to help the county out … I appreciate everything the citizens of the Hardy District have done to put me in this position,” Cunningham said upon learning of the unofficial results.

He then pledged to serve the citizens of the Hardy District as a “true independent” without leaning toward any particular political party.

Meier congratulated Cunningham.

“I congratulate him and look forward to seeing what he does on the board,” Meier said.

Wilson resigned from the School Board in late October, two months ahead of the Dec. 31 end of his current term. According to IWCS spokeswoman Lynn Briggs, the School Board plans to appoint Cunningham as Wilson’s replacement at a special called meeting scheduled for Nov. 8, which will allow him to finish out Wilson’s term and take office earlier than the traditional Jan. 1 start date.