Greens' Ms Whittaker contacted Cr Brown on Saturday night to congratulate her on the Lord Mayoral win.

Ms Whittaker said she knew it would be a battle for the Greens to win, but on the figures so far, the party's Lord Mayoral vote has jumped from the 13 per cent in 2021.

"We're stoked," she said of the party's efforts.

"It was a very different election, with everything that went on. But we're really happy with how the campaign went.

"We left it all out there. We did as much as we could do to put a progressive vision to the community and we've gotten a bigger vote for the Greens than we've ever done before."

"It's really exciting," she said.

"We've got a great team in the Illawarra Greens and we all help each other. So I'm not scared because anything that seems hard, we collaborate on and work together to get through it.

"So it's not like I feel like I'm doing it alone. I'm looking forward to meeting people and getting to know all the local issues in depth and getting our policy platform implemented.

"I'm so excited for Deidre and for Ward 3," Ms Whittaker said.

"We've been trying to get a councillor in Ward 3 for almost a decade. It's awesome that people in Ward 3 will have the Greens down there now to represent them.

"Kit's gotten a good vote. So we're hopeful that comes through in pre-poll as well.

"Kit will be an amazing councillor. He's a young renter, he's got heaps of lived experience of how it can be hard for people to live in Wollongong and he's going to bring that to the table for young people and for renters."

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 15 September 2024.