SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the race for Sacramento Mayor, one candidate is nearly 8,700 votes ahead of the other — but both say it’s too close to call and are cautiously optimistic.
As of the latest ballot count, 2:11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6, public health professional Dr. Flojaune Cofer has 37,542 votes (44.8%), trailing 8,684 votes behind currently Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, who has 46,226 votes (55.2%).
“We have our first round of results, and we are cautiously optimistic because we all remember what happened in March, right?” Cofer asked her supporters at her watch party Tuesday night. “And I'm going to tell you one more time: I know my people, and we are not the early voting type. My people were in line at 7:59, going, 'Ah-ah-ah! Today is the day!'"
She said she’s confident she’ll pull ahead in coming days. Even on Election Night, as Sacramento County released four different updates on results, Cofer made small gains in her share of the vote each time: 43.86% at the initial 8:10 p.m. drop, which was all early voting; 44.03% at 10:05 p.m.; 44.48% at 12:09 a.m. Wednesday and 44.82% at 2:11 a.m.
Sacramento County’s next results update is due by 4:15 p.m. on Friday.
"The numbers will follow, but for now, we are celebrating what we have done here: we came, we saw, we loved and we are better for it,” Cofer said.
At his watch party Tuesday, McCarty thanked his supported and told them he’s optimistic but knows the race is still too close to call.
“It's going to be a couple more weeks. So, you know, we're up to a slight lead out of the gate, but it's super, super early. Most importantly, people had the chance to vote. I'm glad I had the opportunity to talk with voters for a year and a half,” McCarty told ABC10. “You know, every vote counts. We always say that, but it does. I mean, the primary, I got in second place by roughly 200 votes. I have a friend who ran for Congress from the legislature. He won his race by three votes."
Including voters who either skipped the Sacramento mayoral race on their ballot or picked both candidates, thus invalidating their vote for mayor, 90,021 ballots have been counted in this race. That represents 32.06% of the 280,776 registered voters within Sacramento city limits. While we won’t know the total voter turnout in this race until later, it’s safe to say tens of thousands of votes remain to be counted, given the high voter turnout predicted due to the presidential race.
“It's exciting,” McCarty said. “The election's over. The ballots have been cast. It's still really early. You know, this is barely the first quarter in a football game, and after tonight, there's going to be a couple more weeks."
Vote-by-mail ballots that have yet to be counted must have been postmarked on or before Election Day and received by Nov. 12. 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.
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