Ms. Murphy said in a phone interview Tuesday evening, as champagne toasts at her campaign headquarters on Route 7 punctuated her victory, that she was "delighted" with the results but "never assumes them."
She said it was "business as usual" before the close of the workday in town hall but added that she will be moving forward with "some new ideas."
"I'm not ready to present them yet, but I have some things, and it'll be fun working with the new people who were elected and hearing what they bring to the table."
What won't change, Ms. Murphy said, is her availability. "The public knows that I don't just sit in town hall. I'm a big fan of going to everybody's momentous occasions .... you don't have to wait for a big event either."
Mayoral challenger Robert Coppola, a Democrat cross-endorsed by New Milford First (NMF), said Tuesday night following his after-elections party at Dan's Place, "I had to prove she did something radically wrong, but she didn't. And what Pat did very successfully during the campaign was pick up on some of my theories."
Mr. Coppola, a former school board and Town Council member, said, "People were very polite when I went door to door, and I had 1,500 hits on my Web site, but I was going against a mayor with no big issues against her. I knew I wasn't giving them a good enough reason to unseat an incumbent."
The retired teacher, who conceded victory sometime between 9:30 and 10 p.m., before the first unofficial results were announced, said he was not, however, disheartened by the results.
"I started working on this race a year ago, and I think I proved I was competent and ready to be mayor," Mr. Coppola said. "I am very pleased that I kept it positive on my part."
In assessing the value of his challenge to a three-term incumbent, he added, "I think we put on the table things that needed to be discussed-like the library expansion project that's now on the table and the homeless situation, things not on her plate or not getting attention."
He added, "I was also upset about the pension fund and wanted the town to look into college courses that would help residents get jobs-people kept telling me they were unemployed now."
In his concession speech, Mr. Coppola thanked his supporters and extended "best wishes" to the mayor, adding, "Now, Pat, keep your promises to our community to resolve the issues of the campaign," citing, for example, having a resource officer at the intermediate school; forging a "true partnership" with the school board, other boards and commissions and the Homeless Coalition; selling some town-owned properties to get them on the tax rolls; stabilizing taxes "without drawing from town funds; traffic and flooding issues "created by the new Route 7"; completing Route 67 "without similar problems."
Looking to the future, Mr. Coppola, said that he doesn't know whether he would seek a major seat in town government again. He shared that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer "the day after my 65th birthday celebration in September." He said that it was caught at an early stage and the reason he would like to go public with it is to encourage other men to be proactive about their health. "My brother got diagnosed 10 years ago, so I always get tested," he said.
Mr. Coppola noted that he had asked his doctor whether his continuing with the campaign would not be advised and that he was told that he need not change his plans.
John Lillis, the Democratic Party chairman, said he "was disappointed by the results, but I think Pat Murphy had long coat tails and it shows down the line." Mr. Lillis, with 24 years of nearly continuous service on the Town Council, was unseated this week, as were fellow incumbents Sheldon Pruss on the Board of Finance, Amy Llerna and Elizabeth Finney on the Board of Education and Zoning Vice Chairman Janice Vance.
"I'm not sure why they were not returned. They've all done a good job for the community," he said, adding that "I've always enjoyed being on the Town Council, but I know what it's like not to be re-elected, as I was off for two years before," in the 1990s.
Overall, Mr. Lillis said, "I think the Republicans ran a good campaign, and Bob [Coppola] ran a very clean campaign-that's the kind of person he largely is."
Peter Bass, the Republican campaign chairman, was pleased that his party gained ground in this year's elections and said that "we anticipated getting some seats."
Speaking personally, Mr. Bass, who was returned for a fourth term on the Town Council, shared that Mr. Lillis' "unseating came as a surprise to me. He is a very big influence on the Town Council and [in] the community."
Regarding the Republican Party's strengths, he said, "We heard more and more as the campaign progressed and we talked with people outside the post office and around town that the citizens want town government to work in an efficient manner and were willing to give us more opportunity to do so. A lot of the messages we were getting was 'Keep up the good job.'"
He continued, "I think, from speaking with other Republicans, that the fact that we represent moving the town forward through economic development rang true. It would spur job growth and help keep taxes down, which we have all been working together for."
Mr. Bass acknowledged that the town budget's passage in the first referendum was "a good marker" regarding the effectiveness of the mayor's administration, and he said that the sewer expansion project-"we got the OK from townspeople to do that"-is another indication that the community "is looking to make infrastructure improvements."
Ms. Murphy has helped to acquire state and federal funds for some of the recent capital projects.
"I think another big component is the unity in our party," Mr. Bass said. "We had a lot of people working hard on the campaign-they really gave their time and talent."
Roger Szendy, the Republican Party vice chairman, who retained his seat on the Town Council, said yesterday that the results are "an endorsement of the policies and programs of Mayor Murphy. She's accomplished a fantastic amount in her three terms and is a very down-to-earth, honest person who delivers on what she promises.
"I think the mayor sets the standard for the party, which is why I think we only lost one seat," he said, referring to Stiliani Vendetti, a Republican seeking a four-year term on the school board, who was not elected.
Gerard Monaghan, who heads New Milford First (NMF), said that although his party did not win any seats, including his bid for a position on the Planning Commission, "we still won.
"We won because we raised issues that no one else seems to do, due to the major parties' entrenchedness, and gave alternatives," he said, noting that this marked the third election in which NMF had a presence since it was established four years ago.
"A few years ago, with [Robert] Kostes on the top of our ticket, we had a better result, but we still had almost 20 percent of the returns across the board ticket, with our endorsements and cross-endorsements, which is not bad for a third party," Mr. Monaghan said.
"Overall, each of the New Milford First endorsed candidates had just short of 1,000 votes, per candidate, as far as we calculated," he said. "So you see, we made a difference for some who got elected or, without our endorsement, did not."
Mr. Kostes ran for mayor on the New Milford First ticket in the last mayoral election. In a letter to the editor last month, he said of NMF: "We don't care what party you are in; we only care that you have a commitment to the entire town."
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