WATERLOO — Next to the winners themselves, few people were smiling as broadly on election night as outgoing mayors Carl Zehr and Brenda Halloran.

Both surveyed Monday's vote with a little bit of trepidation and a lot of relief after the electorate chose replacements who align with their priorities and hopes for the future.

For Zehr, leaving office in Kitchener after 17 years as mayor, the biggest satisfaction was knowing he's heading into retirement with three pro-LRT leaders in place – Dave Jaworsky in Waterloo, Berry Vrbanovic in Kitchener and Ken Seiling at the regional chair.

"We won the trifecta," he said on election night, after showing at up the Jaworsky campaign to congratulate the mayor-elect. "What I see from Dave, Barry and Ken is it's about moving the agenda forward, and not dwelling on the past."

Voters rejected the negative tone of some campaigns, particularly in their opposition to the perceived costs of the region's rapid transit project, he said.

"I'm really pleased that this community categorically said, 'That's not what we want in office, that style,'" Zehr said. "Some have said this election was going to be some sort of referendum on the LRT. If that's the case, the people have spoken."

Earlier in the night, before results were known, the outgoing mayor admitted some anxiety over the choices facing voters.

"It's actually a little bit scary… I hope that this city and region do not wake up with a big hangover tomorrow morning, and try to figure out what happened."

Halloran, stepping down as mayor after two terms in Waterloo, said she was "proud" of her replacement's success in his first political campaign.

"(Jaworsky) and I have a lot of similarities in our leadership style and our vision for Waterloo," she said. "He's going to take us even further, he's promoting positive leadership."

Jaworsky, meanwhile, credited his win to hard work and the support of a good team. But he also had a slick campaign that reached voters in wider range of ways.

He used a local marketing firm, Stryve Group, to handle the social media side of the campaign. Another firm,31st Line Strategic Communications, handled the candidate's public relations and web content.

The marketing team designed their digital strategy after Calgary's mayor Naheed Nenshi, who's embraced social media to mobilize voters who might otherwise sit out an election. Using data, Jaworsky's digital team tracked the impact of their messages and could tweak the campaign on the fly as needed.

The number of students who voted in advance polls on Waterloo's campuses jumped from about 100 in the last election to closer to 800 – suggesting younger people were more engaged in the municipal campaign.

But Halloran said you can't win an election on Facebook or Twitter alone – you still need good, old-fashioned door-knocking.

"Eighty-five per cent of the voting population are not on social media. They're seniors, and people in their homes, and they want to see the candidate," Halloran said. "Social media has an impact, but people still need to make eye contact with you and talk to you."