Sophomore Jordan Kagan will be the new 7th Ward alderman, ousting incumbent Jeff Monroe in Tuesday’s election.

“I’m glad about the outcome. I’m really satisfied with the victory,” Kagan said.

Kagan won the election 57-37 or 60.6 percent to 39.4 percent.

“I hope to be as accessible as possible in my ward,” Kagan said. “I just hope I won’t let the people down.”

Kagan said he looks forward to working with the other council members. “Whenever I work with people, I basically get along well with them,” Kagan said.

Kagan said he has a number of things he wants to look into now that he represents the ward.

He said he recently toured an apartment building in his ward and found several safety code violations. Kagan declined to identify the building and said he would talk to the landlord about the problems.

“There’s a lot of good things in DeKalb and there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement,” Kagan said.

Kagan said his active campaigning brought his election victory. He said he was disappointed at the overall low turnout at the polls, though.

While the total number of registered voters who voted in DeKalb County was 23.92 percent, the percentage in the 7th Ward was only 8 percent.

Kagan said 20 people on his own sixth floor in Stevenson Towers North turned out to vote for him and this probably tipped the balance. The vote totals for Stevenson Towers, DeKalb’s 12th precinct, went 36-6 for Kagan.

DeKalb 9th precinct, Grant Towers, supported Kagan 11-9. Kagan also won the 6th precinct 5-1. Monroe’s home 5th precinct supported him 22-5.

Monroe said he hopes he didn’t disappoint his supporters with his defeat at the polls. He said Kagan has both the goals and the heart to be an effective alderman.

“Now I will be able to stay home Monday nights and watch ‘McGyver,'” he said referring to the council’s Monday sessions.