Ron Peltier was winning by a large margin over fellow challenger Pegeen Mulhern in the race for the Bainbridge Island City Council’s at-large position.

In the first vote tally on Election Night, Peltier was ahead with 54 percent of the vote. Mulhern had 45 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s initial ballot returns.

Peltier had 2,785 ballots cast in his favor, while Mulhern had 2,348 — a difference of 437 votes.

The contest for the at-large, District 1 seat was the only contested race on the ballot for four positions on the seven-member council. The incumbent, Councilman Steve Bonkowski, decided against seeking a second term.

Peltier and Mulhern both pressed their environmental backgrounds during the race.

Both were members of Islanders for Responsible Development, the grassroots group that was formed to fight the controversial Visconsi shopping center proposal on High School Road at Highway 305, and both pledged to work hard on the council to retain Bainbridge’s unique character amid continuing growth and development on the island.

Peltier, a longtime carpenter on the island, pushed for a 100-year water management plan that could be used to restrain development on the island while Mulhern, a maritime lawyer, stressed her past history of working on environmental issues and legal experience in dealing with laws and regulations.

Neither Peltier, 64, nor Mulhern, 60, have ever held elected office before.