As the first bunch of Primary Election ballots are counted, three mayoral candidates have separated themselves from the rest of the field.
By 12 a.m. Wednesday, State Assemblyman Todd Glora had nearly 20,000 more votes than his next-closes competitors, city councilmembers Scott Sherman and Barbary Bry.
Follow live results from the County Registrar of Voters here.
Sherman stood ahead of Bry by less than 2,000 votes, and the remaining three candidates -- Tasha Williamson, Gita Appelbaum Singh, and Rich Riel -- were behind the pair by 25,000 votes or more.
The top-two vote getters will advance to a non-partisan runoff decided in November's General Election, so San Diegans will be keeping a close eye on the top two spots until the counts are finalized.
Gloria, a Democrat, spent eight years on the San Diego City Council and served as interim mayor when Bob Filner stepped down in controversy. He is a self-proclaimed progressive when it comes to dealing with homelessness and social issues.
He credit his early lead, in part, to turnout from Latino voters.
"I know the Latino community turned up because they want to see someone like them in the Mayor’s office," he said. "We’re going to have a seat at the table.”
Gloria told NBC 7 the numbers were encouraging but insisted the next leg of the campaign won't be easy.
Councilmember Sherman said he was cautiously optimistic about finishing Super Tuesday in second place.
"I’ve been getting a lot of really good reception from people in the community and hearing from a lot of folks that they really like my common sense over nonsense approach, and we’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll get through tonight," Sherman told NBC 7.
Sherman is the only Republican in the race.
Bry told NBC 7 she wasn't discouraged by Tuesday's results. In fact, she said she expected to be in her current position.
“These are very early returns, and this is where we expected I would be with the early returns, which are predominantly Republican," Bry said.
Bry first won a City Council seat in 2016 backed by the Democratic establishment. Since then, she said she's been a voice for accountability and transparency in City Hall.
“I stood up to it, immediately challenging the Soccer City land grab, demanding an independent audit of the Public Utilities Department, and demanding answers as to why 101 Ash Street was sitting empty -- a building that was bought by Mr. Sherman and Mr. Gloria prior to my time on the City Council."
Bry believes she and city leaders need to "end the revolving door of 'politics as usual' if we’re going to effectively address homelessness, housing and meeting our climate action plan goals.”
