Sitting mayors sit pretty

But the stalled projects did not dent the popularity of Mayor John T. Yunits Jr., who trounced Arnold Greenblatt on Tuesday by 5,832 votes. Yunits, first elected in 1995, is the longest-serving mayor in city history.

"So long as their kids are safe, so long as we're filling potholes, the mayor is forgiven," he said.

Sitting mayors in Fitchburg and Waltham lost preliminary elections this year, sparking fears among incumbents that voters would blame local leaders for state aid cuts and the economic slump.

But on Tuesday, when 49 cities and towns in Massachusetts hosted elections, voters in large cities turned to familiar political figures to solve the fiscal crisis.

In Quincy, Mayor William J. Phelan received 73 percent of the vote, beating City Councilor Joseph J. Newton. Phelan received 13,117 votes, compared with 4,775 for Newton.

Phelan, who won the post in 2001 by 17 votes, inherited a $10 million deficit and lost another $7 million last year in state aid. In two years, he watched 100 city jobs go unfilled and fired 30 school employees.

"We did a lot of public outreach," he said. "Folks were well aware of the city's finances. They were understanding when we had to make some of the cuts."

Melrose Mayor Robert J. Dolan also saw his margin of victory balloon since 2001, when a recount declared him a 12-vote victor.

Fifty-six percent of Melrose registered voters turned out on Tuesday, but the majority did not blame Dolan for the loss of $2 million in state aid, 30 percent of the city's total budget. The cuts meant 43 city positions would be left vacant.

Dolan received 7,942 votes, easily defeating David B. Balfour Jr., the former commissioner of the Metropolitan District Commission, who earned 2,538 votes.

"People understand these are very difficult times," Dolan said.

Melrose voters also approved plans for a $38 million middle school.

Weymouth's mayor, David Madden, will also retain his office next year, as will the entire nine-member City Council in Cambridge, despite opposition from 11 candidates.

Cambridge Mayor Michael A. Sullivan said the city's $45 million reserves helped soften the impact of $16 million in local aid cuts. The city did not fire any employees, he said.

But Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University, said the councilors had another advantage: incumbency, with all its organizational and fund-raising heft.

In Newton, he said, all but one office holder on the School Committee and Board of Aldermen won reelection. "They're seen as loyal representatives of the city," he said. "It's pretty unusual to have all the rascals thrown out."

The trend was not universal on Tuesday. In Beverly, for example, 6,250 voters chose former mayor William F. Scanlon Jr. over the incumbent, Thomas M. Crean, who received 4,365 votes. Scanlon lost to Crean in 2001, after serving six years as mayor.

It was one of several repeat elections in recent city history, said City Clerk Frances A. Macdonald.

Springfield, the state's third largest city, also brought back its former leader, after Mayor Michael Albano decided not to seek reelection. Charles V. Ryan, 75, received 14,979 votes, defeating the state Senate majority leader, Linda J. Melconian, who received 13,258 votes.

"I am going to bring Springfield back from the edge of the cliff," Ryan told about 500 supporters at the John Boyle O'Reilly Irish cultural club, the Associated Press reported.

Ryan, who served as mayor from 1962 to 1968, said he would rehire some of the dozens of police and firefighters who have been laid off this year, promising "tangible results by the spring or summer." He will pay for them by going after people who owe the city $43 million in unpaid taxes, the AP reported.

Benjamin Gedan can be reached at gedan@globe.com.