E-Mail This Article to a Friend WINNERS AND LOSERS New face for a New Boston BY DEIRDRE FULTON

As poll numbers poured in at the Blarney Stone in Dorchester, Sam Yoon looked dazed as he searched for the words to describe his success.

"Just... I just tried to be me, as corny as that sounds," Yoon said as his wife wiped away tears behind him. What that meant was embracing — and now moving beyond — the label he’ll live with forever.

"For however long, I’ll still be ‘the first Asian-American councilor in the history of Boston,’ " he said. "I’m more than that, and the city saw that, but this is for the Asian community. This is an honor, and now it’s a daunting responsibility to do this first."

"It’s not a New Boston anymore," he added, as much to the diverse crowd cheering him at the Blarney Stone as to the city. "This is just the way Boston is. This is today’s Boston."

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Today’s Boston has no place for Patricia White. In West Roxbury, where White accepted her second — and final, she says — defeat, supporters were irked.

"What we thought was that Boston was changing," said 25-year-old Sarah Holland, a South Boston resident who worked on White’s campaign. "But what we thought was that Patricia was part of that, as a woman." With White’s loss, District Three councilor Maureen Feeney is the sole woman on the council.

But it’s over for White, who said campaign chores such as holding signs and raising money can be "unpleasant and an act of discipline," and who seems relieved to have the experience behind her. Now, she looks forward to spending time with her husband and her five-month-old son — who she gave birth to in the middle of a competitive campaign — and getting involved in city politics from a different angle. "There are other ways you can be creative and be a part of the city," she said. "I will never run for elected office again."

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Nothing seemed to be over at Triple D’s in Jamaica Plain, where a rowdy crowd stayed late to celebrate Gibrán Rivera’s energetic candidacy.

"Honestly, until the numbers came in, I thought this was ours," Rivera said over a beer.

And next time, he’s sure it will be. "We won in the progressive community overwhelmingly. The people of West Roxbury don’t know me yet. I feel like getting to know people takes time. We know what we’re doing and we know what we are. This campaign was, and has been, and will continue to be about social change."