ON WEDNESDAY, Monterey County 5th District Supervisor Dave Potter got official word of what everybody already knew: He soundly beat challenger Marc Del Piero. The final margin of victory, announced Wednesday, was 55 to 45 percent — a lead that grew steadily as absentee and provisional ballots were counted in the weeks following election day.

The two men ran a hotly contested campaign — Potter trying to retain the seat he’s held for 16 years and Del Piero, who served three county supervisor terms beginning in the 1980s, hungry to unseat him.

As the weeks went by since the Nov. 6 election day, Del Piero wouldn’t concede, saying he was waiting for all the votes to be counted. But even with the final tally in, Potter said Del Piero hadn’t conceded or offered a congratulatory phone call.

“I have not heard from Marc,” Potter told The Pine Cone.

The final tally showed the vote totals were 22,013 for Potter and 18,106 for Del Piero.

“We are obviously pleased,” Potter said. “I’m glad to see we still have an overwhelming vote of confidence from residents of the 5th.”

During his campaign, Del Piero said he was in favor of “transparency” and “truthfulness” and promised to end what he called Potter’s “secret, back-room deals.”

Potter this week addressed his opponent’s campaign strategy.

“I’m glad to see that once again we have reaffirmed the fact that voters in the 5th District don’t appreciate negative campaigning,” he said. “We ran a clean campaign and we stayed with the facts and stayed positive.”

Del Piero got a colossal cash boost from the North Salinas Valley Fund for Responsible Growth, a environmental group which gave a total of $132,500 to his campaign in an effort to unseat Potter. The money came from a lawsuit against Monterey County over a development project called Butterfly Village.

“Big money doesn’t buy an election,” Potter said.

Potter said for his next term, he’ll continue to focus on 5th District issues, including those involving the Fort Ord Reuse Authority and helping secure a new water supply project for the Monterey Peninsula.

“It’s one of the most unusual districts in the state of California,” Potter said. “And I’m very, very proud and honored to serve.”