[media-credit name=’Matthew Kutz’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Incumbent Ald. Austin King won the primary election for City Council District 8 Tuesday with 79 percent of the votes. Kami Eshraghi, owner of Kimia Lounge, came in second place with 16 percent.

Both King and Eshraghi will move on to the general election for City Council April 5. King, who is running for re-election, has served as alderperson for District 8 for almost two years.

Ryan Corcoran, the front man of Awesome Car Funmaker, dropped out of the race Monday, but his name still appeared on the ballot. He received 6 percent of the votes, even though he decided to endorse King and persuaded voters to refrain from casting a vote for his own name.

King said he was motivated by the results.

“I don’t want to quote President Bush, but if he had a mandate with 51 percent, then 79 percent is a ringing endorsement of the progressive agenda I have been pushing,” King said.

Although he had no idea he would do so well, King said his support has been great and he wants to ride the momentum to victory.

According to Eshraghi, this election was a “waste of time” because Corcoran had dropped out. It was already decided that both he and King would move on to the general election, he added.

Eshraghi said the results from this primary election do not mean much because voter turnout was very low.

“I’m very saddened nobody took [the primary] seriously,” Eshraghi said. “But it was already decided anyway.”

King also said he was disappointed by the election results.

“I wish it would have been higher,” King said.

King said that because Corcoran dropped out, it kept a lot of his supporters away from the polls. He added that he hopes to get them out to vote in the general election.

A total of 376 people voted in the election between four wards. Ward 46 has 4,200 registered voters and ward 47 has about 2,300 registered voters. Election clerks at ward 46 called the turnout “pathetic” and said they wish more people had shown up. They added the city was expecting a turnout of about 10 percent.

Both candidates said they were disappointed by the low voter turnout but are looking forward to the general election.

King said he wants to keep doing what he has been doing, continue to focus on important issues such as tenants’ rights, and stay positive. He said he plans to continue going door to door to talk with the constituents in his district.

Eshraghi said he plans to get the issues out there and inform the city. He added he puts credit with students and when they hear about the issues he supports, he is confident he will win the election this spring.