Liberal Wayne Long won the southern riding of Saint John-Rothesay in Monday's election.

Long was elected with 48.8 per cent support.

"I'm just thrilled for the opportunity," he said. "It's been a dream of mine to want to represent Saint John-Rothesay…I want to roll up my sleeves…and come up with a plan to move this riding, and this great city, forward."

Long says he started to feel voters might be leaning in his favour about a month ago.

"I think we were neck-and-neck with Rodney for probably the last few months," he said. "I would say [in] the last month you could see it turn…a lot of people that we didn't think would support us were starting to support us."

Conservative Rodney Weston, who was seeking his third term as MP for the Saint John area, received 30.4 per cent of the vote on Monday.

"I feel very proud about the work that I've done as a Member of Parliament here in Saint John," Weston said. "I hold my head up."

"In seven years, I was able to deliver a lot of projects here in Saint John — a lot of needs that were met that hadn't been met in the past — and I feel good about that," he said.

New Democrat A.J. Griffin placed third in the riding, with 17.7 per cent of the vote, while the Green Party's Sharon Murphy had 3.2 per cent support.

One of the main issues throughout the campaign was the proposed Energy East pipeline, something Long says he supports wholeheartedly.

"It's probably…one of the things that I think the Tories were counting on, that I would be vague and non-committal on the pipeline," Long said.

"[F]rom day one, I said that Wayne Long always supported the pipeline. And you know, the Liberal Party certainly just wants to make sure there's a fair process to move the pipeline forward."