Baxter Estates, N.Y., Mayor James Neville ran unopposed for re-election -- and lost.

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Neville, the village's mayor since 2001, was the first to admit he let his guard down, Newsday reported Thursday.

"I got lazy," he said.

As a two-term mayor running with the Unity Party and without declared opposition, Neville paid little attention to the need to campaign, realizing his tactical error only after the ballots had been counted.

"This was a well-orchestrated sneak attack," he said after losing the race to two-term village trustee John Maher, who garnered 24 write-in votes to the 14 cast for Neville, a criminal defense attorney by profession, in Tuesday's election. "I wish him well."

This is not the first time the two men have clashed, however. Neville first won office as mayor of the village, a part of the town of North Hempstead, N.Y., by defeating Maher, a small-business investor with ties to the Independence Party, by just two votes.