Speaker of the House Joe Shekarchi joked that there were more politicians than voters at Lippitt Elementary School on the morning of Rhode Island’s primary election.

While the city had the third-largest turnout in the state in terms of raw numbers — Cranston, buoyed by a competitive mayoral race and multiple competitive General Assembly races, led the state — the city only had 6,605 votes cast 10 minutes before poll closing, according to the Secretary of State’s website. Statewide turnout was at 9.9% 10 minutes before poll closing, according to the Rhode Island Voter Turnout Tracker — Warwick’s turnout was slightly higher, at 10.5%.

Shekarchi, along with U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Treasurer James Diossa and a bevy of Warwick and West Warwick Democratic politicians and candidates, gave the elementary school a visit to talk to voters and show support for candidates in competitive primaries.

After polls closed at 8 p.m., ballots were counted quickly with most candidates knowing whether they had won or lost within the hour.

In Ward 7, the mail-in ballots ended up making the difference in the Democratic primary, where the first- and last-place candidates were separated by a total of only 23 votes. John Kirby, who had previously made three runs for mayor against Scott Avedisian, took home the win in the tightly-contested race.

While Stephen Mulcahey had the lead after each polling place was reported, Kirby garnered 41 mail ballots to Mulcahey’s 14. That was enough for him to move into first and beat Mulcahey by 12 votes.

Kirby said that he was grateful to the voters of the ward for putting their faith in him, and attributed his win to his work walking the ward.

“I walked to just about every door,” Kirby said. “I’d like to thank the voters and ask them to keep me in mind in November.”

He will face independents Roger Ceresi and Jeffrey Chapdelaine in the general election on Nov. 5.

In Senate District 29’s Democratic primary, Peter Appollonio defeated Jennifer Rourke, picking up 61.1% of the vote in the district.

Appollonio said prior to the release of results that he was confident in the work that he had done leading up to the election, noting that he was knocking on doors as early as January to introduce himself to voters.

He faces Republican incumbent Anthony DeLuca in the general election.

In the citywide School Committee race, Anthony Corrente found himself the odd man out, as the other four candidates — incumbents David Testa and Karen Bachus and challengers Sean Wiggins and Zach Colón — advanced to the general election, where the top two candidates will win.

Wiggins, the president of Warwick North Little League, put in the strongest performance of the night, besting both incumbents and picking up 27.2% of the vote. Testa came in second, with 22.6%. Bachus and Colón finished with 19% and 18.5% of the vote, respectively.

Both parties’ primaries for United States Senate were lopsided affairs. Whitehouse picked up 83.3% of the vote in the Democratic primary, defeating Michael Costa, and on the Republican side, Patricia Morgan won 62.4% of the city’s votes, defeating Raymond McKay. Whitehouse and Morgan will face off in the general.

After the results came in, Shekarchi, speaking at the Rhode Island Democrats’ dual watch party of the primary results and the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump at Lemongrass on Post Road, said that there was plenty for the Rhode Island Democratic Party to feel good about Tuesday night.

Only one incumbent Democrat in the House of Representatives lost their primary — Edward Cardillo, Jr. in District 42, which consists of parts of Johnston and Cranston, lost to Kelsey Colletta. Cardillo, who lost by 31 votes, has yet to concede. His nephew, Dennis Cardillo, Jr., came in third.

Shekarchi said that the success of incumbents in his chamber showed faith from the public in their work.

“I think it’s an indication that the public is happy with the work we’ve done,” Shekarchi said. “And the [representatives] who won were the ones who worked the hardest. They ran on their record, and won on their record.”