SAN DIEGO (AP) – Mayor Jerry Sanders has shown he knows how to stretch a dollar to beat back a fiscal crisis. Now he’s proven he can do the same for his political career.

Sanders thumped a wealthy, self-financed rival who outspent him 10-to-1 in a lively contest to run the nation’s eighth-largest city. Businessman Steve Francis conceded the race Wednesday.

“I am optimistic and confident that the mayor and the new city council will begin to address the challenges that still face our city,” Francis said.

With all precincts reporting Wednesday, Sanders, a moderate Republican and former police chief, had nearly 54 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a runoff in November.

“It’s clear by the look of tonight’s results that voters saw through one of the most deceptive, negative and expensive campaigns in San Diego history,” Sanders said as he declared victory late Tuesday. “Tomorrow morning I return to work as your mayor and I pledge to keep this city moving forward and in the right direction.”

He touted the city’s new budget rules and 10 percent cuts in municipal staff and pledged to “get back to work” immediately.

Fellow Republican Steve Francis only took 35 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan race.

The businessman committed $4.3 million of the fortune he made founding a hospital-staffing company in hopes of stopping Sanders short of the 50 percent mark, which would have forced a runoff among the top two vote getters.

Self-proclaimed revolutionary Eric Bidwell won nearly 4 percent of the vote after playing the spoiler during the campaign. Without spending a dime, the dreadlocked 26-year-old embarrassed the frontrunners, calling them “rich bozos” at one event. He revealed at a televised debate that the mayor’s campaign fed him talking points trashing Francis, prompting Sanders’ campaign manager to quit.

Democrat Floyd Morrow attracted 6 percent of the vote, while James Hart, who campaigned for a four-day workweek to reduce global warming, trailed with 1 percent.

Voter turnout was light despite the heavily advertised campaign between Sanders and Francis.

Francis, 53, jettisoned the conservative, anti-tax positions that landed him a third-place finish in the 2005 race. Instead, he spent part of the $52.3 million fortune he made selling stock in his company AMN Healthcare Inc. on television ads promoting a vague platform of cleaning City Hall of special interests.

But while the 57-year-old Sanders – whose campaign raised $426,000, may have convinced the majority of voters he deserved a second term to shepherd the city to financial recovery – not everyone who turned out to vote is so eager to see the mayor continue.

Peggy Talmich, 70, said her vote for Francis – whose name she struggled to remember as she entered a polling place – was a rejection of Sanders for failing to address the city’s enormous financial problems. The city faces mammoth pension obligations to its workers and retirees.

“It’s such a mess,” said Talmich, a retired food services worker. “I’m against Sanders more than anything. I’m hoping Francis is going to do everything he says he will, but we’ll see.”

Francis embraced a vague change mantra after his platform of socially conservative positions and promises of job cuts at City Hall landed him a third-place finish in the 2005 race.

Sanders told voters that he led San Diego from the brink of financial ruin.

City services have continued to deteriorate during Sanders’ tenure, with potholes going unfilled and water mains regularly breaking. But the city completed overdue audits under his watch and Standard & Poor’s recently restored the city’s credit rating, ending a virtual freeze on the city’s ability to borrow money.

He endeared himself to the city’s sizable gay constituency by making a tearful about-face on same-sex marriage, withdrawing his opposition because he could not deny his lesbian daughter the right to marry. Sanders’ support allowed the city to join the petition that prompted the California Supreme Court to decide gay couples must be allowed to wed.

The crowded undercard featured an aggressive Republican campaign to unseat City Attorney Michael Aguirre, who is both beloved and maligned for his activist approach to the job.

His Republican challenger Jan Goldsmith, a Superior Court judge, forced a November runoff by winning 32 percent of the vote to Aguirre’s 28 percent.

Half of San Diego’s eight City Council districts were also at stake. All but one will be contested in November.

District 5 City Council candidate Carl DeMaio won 66 percent of the vote to opponent George George’s 33 percent. DeMaio is the first openly gay man elected to the San Diego City Council.

“I ran on a fiscal platform,” DeMaio said in a statement to the Gay & Lesbian Times Wednesday. “I did not run on social issues. I pledge to govern in a way that is inclusive and unites all San Diegans, regardless of their political, economic or social status. I will work hard to address the needs of all San Diego’s communities, including the gay community, of which I am proud to be a member.”

In the race to replace termed-out City Councilmember Toni Atkins in District 3, congressional aide Todd Gloria and American Red Cross spokesman Stephen Whitburn led a crowded field, with the two facing a runoff in November.

“I’m so excited, ecstatic,” Gloria said. “It’s been a long year, but obviously it’s paid off and it’s really exciting. I welcome the opportunity [for a runoff]. We have run this race without making changes or allowances for our opponent. I just went out and told the voters my story about being a native San Diegan with deep roots in the district and more experience than my opponents, and that’s obviously resonated with them. We’ll continue to tell them that and I think we’ll be successful in November.”

Whitburn also welcomes the opportunity to face Gloria in the fall and congratulated his opponent.

“I’m grateful to everyone who helped our campaign advance to the runoff,” Whitburn said. “I hope we take a moment to enjoy our success. The general election looks promising for us.”