“Well, the Greens did OK!” Green Party Mayoral Candidate Mary DeCamp said as she looked over the election numbers—4.77 percent for her, 34 percent for Ward 1 hopeful Beryl Baker.

Election night festivities for the Green Party were muted but earnest, with around 40 mostly older supporters conversing warmly over snacks and some craft brews at Tasteful Kitchen, 722 N. Stone Ave.

But even with a little less than 5 percent of the vote, DeCamp still claimed victory.

“We did it. I don’t care what the numbers are. We made history,” DeCamp said. “I performed a service. I brought a message to the table. We changed the dialogue!"

For DeCamp, it was about bringing debate and competition to the election.

“I look at this more as a service,” DeCamp said. “Not that it’s fun to do; it’s awful,” she said.

DeCamp surprised some opponents when she received enough donations to qualify for public matching funds, but her check was delayed when her Oct. 26 application was rejected. She still hadn’t received the funds as of Election Day.

“Boy was that a crushing blow,” DeCamp said, but added she wasn’t surprised. “They’re busy; they’re doing their election. They don’t owe us anything,” she said of the city clerk’s office.

Those funds, should she receive them, will probably go toward invoices for hiring campaigners, said Cynthia Duncan, the campaign treasurer, who added the campaign expects around $5,000 to come through in the next week or so.

“We hired local people, instead of paying for all those yard signs. That’s how we spent our money—putting it into local pockets,” said Dave Croteau, the campaign manager for and former primary opponent of Mary DeCamp.

DeCamp didn’t hesitate to express her relief that the campaign was over, to a collective chuckles and smiles from the room. Now she can get back to Occupy Tucson, she said.

“I have always found a way of being of service to my community,” DeCamp said. “I probably won’t be paid well to do it, but I’ll be of service to my community.”