LAWRENCE — Mayor-elect for 15 hours, William Lantigua was fielding congratulatory calls from Lawrence, Boston and the Dominican Republic when Boston Celtics co-owner and fellow Democrat Steve Pagliuca showed up at his office door at noon yesterday.

Pagliuca, one of four Democratic candidates for the late Edward Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat, made several stops in Lawrence yesterday. He went off schedule for a few minutes so he could stop by Lantigua's 225 Essex St. office and congratulate the state representative on his mayoral win Tuesday night.

"There's a lot to be done," said Pagliuca after shaking Lantigua's hand and congratulating him.

"A lot is an understatement. It's huge," said Lantigua.

Pagliuca pointed to the city's unemployment rate, which hovers around 20 percent, nearly twice the state average. Some 320,000 people across Massachusetts are unemployed.

"We just can't have this kind of unemployment," said Pagliuca, who has made job creation a major part of his campaign platform.

Lantigua agreed, noting spiking unemployment rates go hand in hand with a rise in crime.

"It's related," Lantigua said.

But fresh from the win, Lantigua said he was not yet ready to talk about when, and if, he plans to give up his state representative seat.

Lantigua defeated challenger David Abdoo by 1,038 votes, becoming the city and state's first Hispanic mayor. On Jan. 2, he'll succeed Mayor Michael Sullivan, who served two terms and cannot run again due to term limits.

After the Sept. 22 primary, Lantigua said he wanted to be a full-time mayor and would give up his state representative job. However, he has not said if he'll resign before his Jan. 2 inauguration or if he'll finish his legislative term, which expires in 2010.

Lantigua's resignation from his state representative seat would trigger a special election that would include both a primary and final election, said Rafael Tejeda, the city's bilingual elections coordinator.

The state would set the election schedule depending on when, and if, Lantigua resigns, Tejeda said.

Those intending to run for the 16th Essex District seat must be 18 years old, a registered voter and U.S. citizen and a resident of the district for one year prior to the date of the election.

Candidates must gather 150 votes from residents of the district, according to special election rules posted on the secretary of state's Web site.

Lantigua spent his first morning as mayor-elect on "The People's Voice," a radio show hosted by his longtime friend and supporter Isabel Melendez.

Melendez said she was thrilled Lantigua was elected.

"This was something I'd been waiting for and we got it," Melendez said in a hoarse voice from screaming the night before. "Willy is not a rookie. He has years of hard work and participation in politics."

People called in to congratulate Lantigua. "He told them that the work ahead is hard, but he cannot do it alone. He needs to go through a process and obey the law," she said.

"For the past 50 years, I've seen the city change, but not City Hall. Today, things are different." Melendez said.

After the votes were tabulated Tuesday night, Abdoo conceded and offered his congratulations to Lantigua. Sullivan also text messaged his successor, congratulating him on his "big victory."

"I told him I was looking forward to working with him on the transition," he said.

Months ago, Sullivan assembled a transition team to aid the next mayor. "In the next few days, I'm assuming I'll hear from someone on Lantigua's team," he said.

In addition to Lantigua, Sullivan also sent the winners in the City Council and School Committee races official letters of congratulations yesterday.

Staff reporter Yadira Betances contributed to this report.

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