SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the race for Sacramento mayor, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty’s lead over public health professional Dr. Flojaune “Flo” Cofer has significantly narrowed – but he remains 4,167 votes ahead of his opponent – according to the latest update of ballot counts published by Sacramento County Friday afternoon.
McCarty now has 51.2% of the vote (89,191 votes). Prior to Friday’s update, he had 52.8% (71,343 votes). Cofer now has 48.8% of the vote (85,024 votes). The last update on Tuesday had her at 47.2% (63,759 votes).
Cofer has narrowed McCarty’s lead with every update of results. The morning after Election Night – on Nov. 6 – 10.4% of the vote separated the two candidates. The Nov. 8 update saw that gap narrow to 8.1%. As of Nov. 12, 5.6% of the vote separated them.
Now, after Friday’s update, 2.4% of the vote separates them. The next update is due Tues., Nov. 19.
Sacramento County estimates it has 60,264 ballots left to count county-wide; it’s unclear how many of those are voters within Sacramento City limits, who would have the mayoral contest on their ballot.
In order to win, Cofer would need to close a 4,167-vote gap.
At this point, 187,220 ballots have been counted in this race, representing 66.7% of the 280,776 registered voters within Sacramento city limits. That includes voters who either skipped the Sacramento mayoral race on their ballot or picked both candidates, thus invalidating their vote for mayor.
ABC10 reached out to both campaigns for reaction to Friday’s numbers.
McCarty released a statement on social media, saying, "The latest update from Sacramento County saw 39,000 votes processed in the race for Mayor, and there are less than 20,000 votes left to count in the City of Sacramento. The latest update shows that my lead is 4,100 votes and I continue to maintain a lead in this race. We continue to be cautiously optimistic, but we want to see every vote counted before making any other statement."
A spokesperson for Cofer's campaign said, "The people of Sacramento want change. We're closing the gap and...look forward to seeing the final results."
Straggler vote-by-mail ballots that arrived after Election Day had to be received by the Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections office by Nov. 12 in order to be counted.
“Depending on the volume of Vote by Mail, [Conditional Voter Registration], or Provisional ballots received, it may take up to a month for [Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections] to verify, open, process, and tabulate these ballots,” the county’s website says.
Cofer went from having 44.8% of the vote the morning after Election Night to 45.9% at the next update, to 47.2% and now to 48.8%. Commensurately, McCarty has gone from 55.2% to 54.1% to 52.8% to, now, 51.2%.
Cofer predicted on Election Night that this trend would happen, saying her supporters “are not the early-voting type. My people were in line at 7:59, going, 'Ah-ah-ah! Today is the day!'"
It’s a trend she saw during the March 5 primary, when she initially came in last among the four frontrunner candidates and – as results were updated in the following weeks – pulled ahead to a strong lead.
The county has until Dec. 5 to certify final, official results. The new mayor and two new city councilmembers will be sworn in at the Sacramento City Council’s Dec. 10 meeting.
WATCH MORE ON ABC10: Sacramento mayor's race: Meet candidates Dr. Flo Cofer, Kevin McCarty
