UPDATE: 8:53 a.m., Nov. 6, 2020
Assemblyman Todd Gloria held onto a commanding 12- percentage point lead Friday in the race to be San Diego's next mayor, with another update in counted ballots expected this afternoon.
Gloria had 56.2% of the vote, while City Council President Pro Tem Barbara Bry had 43.8%, according to figures released Thursday afternoon by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters.
Gloria leads his fellow Democrat by 63,917 votes. If he wins, he would be the first openly gay person elected to the position.
More than 65,000 votes were counted between early Wednesday morning and late Thursday afternoon with Bry pulling 0.2% closer to Gloria. Late ballots would have to break heavily in her favor for her to catch Gloria.
RELATED: Bry Concedes San Diego Mayor’s Race To Gloria
Gloria campaign manager Nick Serrano said "results are holding where we expected them to."
Bry's campaign manager Tom Shepard said the campaign would release a statement Friday, but did not provide more details late Thursday afternoon.
More than 300,000 votes in San Diego County are left to be tallied, Registrar of Voters Michael Vu estimates, but it is unclear how many of those are in San Diego.
The Registrar of Voters will update provide an update on the race at 5 p.m. Friday. Given the volume of mail ballots in Tuesday's election, it could be days or weeks before final numbers are determined.
Gloria expressed confidence in his victory on social media, retweeting several elected officials congratulating him for the victory, including San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina and Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.
The winner will succeed Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer in the nonpartisan post. Faulconer was barred from running for re-election because of term limits.
UPDATE: 5:15 a.m., Nov. 5, 2020
Assemblyman Todd Gloria is leading fellow Democrat San Diego City Councilmember Barbara Bry for San Diego Mayor on Tuesday but the race was unlikely to be called, and votes will likely be tallied for weeks.
Bry said she is not ready to concede.
“We know from our experience in the primary, when we were way behind on Election Night, that it’s not over until it’s over, and there are still a lot of ballots to count, so I will reserve judgment while the remaining ballots are counted,” she said in a statement Wednesday.
But Tuesday night, Gloria expressed confidence about his chances.
"Tonight, I believe we have made more than history," he said.
Bry and Gloria share similar views on some issues but have notable differences on housing and transportation. Gloria supports Measure A, a bond measure to raise $900 million for affordable housing in San Diego, while Bry declined to take a position on it before the election.
Gloria also supports the massive expansion of public transit being developed by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), while Bry opposes it. Whoever becomes mayor could cast the deciding vote on whether SANDAG's plans are approved.
Bry's platform includes banning dockless scooter sharing companies and short-term home rentals popularized by websites like AirBnb. Gloria said he prefers to regulate both of those things rather than ban them.
Gloria, who previously served on the city council for eight years and as interim mayor for six months, won the March primary with about 41.5% of the vote. Bry, an entrepreneur who was elected to the council in 2016, came in second with 22.9% — beating third-placed Councilmember Scott Sherman by just 1,189 votes.
Bry surprised many observers in the race when she significantly outraised Gloria from mid-February through June, though Gloria outraised Bry in the following reporting period. Gloria also maintained a consistent advantage with outside political action committees spending on his behalf.
