Prince William voters overwhelmingly re-elected Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart (R) on Tuesday night, also sending Peter Candland (R) to join him as the supervisor-elect from the Gainesville District.

Stewart claimed 58 percent of the vote against Democratic Dr. Babur Lateef and independent candidate John Gray, his largest share of the vote in three county-wide races since 2006.

Lateef finished in a distant second-place with 27 percent of the vote even though his campaign and even Stewart himself both expected him to be in the 40s.

Gray's showing actually bested expectations as the campaigns of Stewart and Lateef suggested in the run-up to the election that Gray would likely register single-digits.

Meanwhile in Gainesville District, Candland has earned the right to replace outgoing Supervisor John Stirrup (R), who lost a GOP primary for state Senate back in August.

Candland posted a 56-43 percent win over Ann Wheeler (D) after winning eight precincts along with a majority of absentee ballots.

The two Republicans Stewart and Candland are set to join Supervisors Mike May (R-Occoquan), Wally Covington (R-Brentsville), Marty Nohe (R-Coles) and Maureen Caddigan (R-Potomac) in the majority for the next four years as the latter four all won re-election bids Tuesday.

May, Covington and Caddigan all ran unopposed; Nohe faced nominal opposition from first-time candidate Anthony Arnold (D), winning 69-31 percent in the redrawn Coles district.

Supervisors John Jenkins (D-Neabsco) and Frank Principi (D-Woodbridge) are set to continue serving in the minority.

Jenkins won an uncontested race while Principi walloped Chris Roysce (R) 61-39 percent even though Republicans like Stewart privately and publicly suggested throughout the campaign that Principi was in serious electoral trouble.

The overall result of the election is that, of the eight seats, only the Gainesville seat will have a new representative.

Along with the state Senate and House of Delegates results, that suggests the power of incumbency in Prince William County is very real and is an extremely hard thing to beat.