FALL RIVER — It’s going to be Mayor Correia in 2008.

Voters yesterday selected state Rep. Robert Correia as their city’s new chief executive, giving him a comfortable win over his colleague in the House, David Sullivan.

The 68-year-old former junior high school science and math teacher got 55 percent of the vote after focusing on his record in the legislature and after Sullivan’s promise of independent leadership failed to resonate with enough voters.

The tally was 9,626 for Correia to 7,804 for Sullivan.

Once sworn in in January, Correia will be succeeding Edward Lambert, who decided not to run for reelection after holding the city’s top post for nearly 12 years. He resigned to take a job at UMass Dartmouth last month. City Councilman William F. Whitty has been serving as acting mayor.

About 400 Correia supporters crammed the lower level of McGovern’s restaurant as the last results from the 30 polling places came in.

Correia wandered from table to table, shaking hands, sharing hugs, and having his picture taken with supporters.

“I pinched myself a couple of times to make sure I’m not dreaming,” he said in his victory speech, which was more of an homage to his supporters and staff, some of whom worked for a year on the campaign.

“I can only repay you by being the best possible mayor I can,” he said, his wife, Patricia, standing to his left. “I’ll make darn sure that we build a safe city, that we increase our educational level, and that we get jobs into this community. We’re not going to talk about it. We’re going to get it done.”

Sullivan, 54, a former psychiatric social worker, had tried to leverage his spirited opposition against the Weaver’s Cove LNG project into the executive offices.

But Correia, who has held several leadership positions in the legislature, had refused to look like a weak brother on the issue, even though neither man could take credit for actually stalling LNG on Beacon Hill.

One hug for Correia came last night from Sen. Joan Menard, who said she helped him because, “I admired what he did in the House.”

Sullivan was philosophical.

“I thought it was a well-fought battle,” he said last night during his party at the Venus de Milo in Swansea. “I was an underdog to start with, and we brought a lot of issues to the table.”

Correia tried to make it look like he was the more effective politician, contending that he represented “Leadership that gets things done” and emphasizing the state funds he had brought to the city.

Sullivan, who portrayed himself as representing “leadership that is truly independent,” painted Correia as a political insider, “part of the old guard.”

But Correia denied being involved in any City Hall politics, to the point of saying, “I have no idea what the old guard is in Fall River.”

Correia had a head start going into the race. He handily outpaced Sullivan in an eight-person primary, garnering 4,271 votes to Sullivan’s 2,516.

But Sullivan was hoping that he would pick up a lot of support from those who voted for the six unsuccessful candidates.

There were nine City Council and six School Committee seats up for grabs.

gemery@projo.com