Citywide election results were a mixed bag the morning of Nov. 3, with two of the most contentious races – mayoral and city attorney – still neck-and-neck after most other races had been decided with sure victories.

District 1 Democratic incumbent Scott Peters retained his seat over Republican challenger Phil Thalheimer, securing a 9-point lead early in the evening that held steady throughout the night, garnering him 54 percent of the vote. Both District 1 candidates had picked up GLBT endorsements, with Log Cabin Republicans and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis supporting Thalheimer, and the San Diego Democratic Club and Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins backing Peters.

“Obviously, our community continues to regret his vote in favor of the Boy Scouts being in Balboa Park,” said San Diego Democratic Club President Stephen Whitburn of Peters’ win. “But he has since been a friend of the GLBT community, certainly more so than his opponent… and I think that by and large, he’s a good vote for us on the city council, so I’m certainly glad that he won.”

The majority of San Diegans glued to the television screens at downtown’s Golden Hall watched with equal interest the fluctuating votes for both president and San Diego’s mayor.

Early in the evening, County Supervisor Ron Roberts held a 6-point lead with 37 percent of the vote over incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy, while the Democratic write-in candidate, Councilmember Donna Frye, followed behind Murphy with 30 percent. Things changed quickly however, and the margins closed into a three-way tie around 11:00 p.m.

“The projections were it was going to be a close race, but I never imagined it would be this close,” Roberts said at that point, and predicted accurately that the race would not be decided that night.

Murphy agreed, telling the press, “I still think it’s too close to call.”

Frye edged out a 3-point lead in the early morning hours, but by 6:00 a.m., Murphy had almost caught up to her, trailing Frye’s 35 percent by 1 point.

Frye doggedly maintained her lead throughout election night despite questions on how valid that lead was: Though the write-in votes held a narrow majority, not all are necessarily for Frye. The manual processing of write-in ballots began Wednesday morning, with a write-in board consisting of election workers and Registrar of Voters staff in charge of sorting through the ballots.

As of press time, Frye still held 35 percent of the vote, Murphy ran a close second with 34 percent and Roberts held steady at 30 percent.

Up until five weeks ago, it looked as though the mayoral race was going to be a repeat of the 2000 campaign, with Roberts vying for Murphy. In the close race where every vote counted, both had been courting the GLBT community for support, and both were successful in making some inroads. Frye’s highly publicized entry into the mayoral race dramatically changed its political landscape, prompting San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Philip J. LaVelle to compare the pre-Frye race to “flat soda” until her entrance added “some fizz into this can.”

“When we first began our quest, and word got out that I was running for mayor, the report from the community was beyond my wildest dreams,” Frye told her supporters at Golden Hall after she had taken the lead. “…We need an elected official who will never forget what the job of an elected official is – to be a public servant to you. … I’m just going to wait and see, but I tell you guys, I’ve got a really good feeling.”

The Registrar of Voters has until Nov. 30 to decide the write-in results.

“If Donna were to win, the GLBT community would have a true ally in the mayor’s office,” Whitburn said. “She supports us all the way, including marriage equality. Keep in mind, however, that voters also approved the strong-mayor proposal, to take effect in 2006. The mayor will have veto power, but will not have a regular vote on city council, so there will be eight voting members of the council. If Donna becomes mayor, that would leave four current Democrats on the council and two Republicans. There would be a special election to fill Donna’s seat in District 6, and there is already a special election this Nov. 16 to fill the vacancy in District 4. So to get a five-vote majority, we would need a GLBT-friendly Democrat to win at least one of those races.”

In another mayoral race, openly gay Coronado Councilmember Frank Tierney lost his bid to be Coronado’s mayor by a landslide to Tom Smisek, capturing 29 percent to Smisek’s 70 percent.

Tension prevailed amid city attorney candidates Mike Aguirre and Leslie Devaney’s supporters, with both camps watching their candidate struggle through the night for a 1-point lead over the other. At 12:00 midnight, Devaney led 50 to 49 percent; by 6:00 a.m., Aguirre led 50 to 49 percent.

“I was very surprised that it is this close for Aguirre,” Whitburn said. “He did so well in the primary, almost winning the primary outright. … He ran a very aggressive campaign for the general election and we really didn’t hear that much from Leslie Devaney. It really seemed as though this would be an easy win for Mike Aguirre, so I’m very surprised that he didn’t win by a substantial amount.”

As of press time, Aguirre maintained a 1-point lead over Devaney.

“Both the mayor’s race and the city attorney’s race are simply too close to call at this point,” Whitburn said Wednesday afternoon. “It looks like Donna Frye and Mike Aguirre could both win, but there are thousands of provisional ballots and absentee ballots that were turned in on Election Day that haven’t been counted yet, and those are being counted now, but we probably won’t get any updated results until Friday, at the earliest.”

If the results of either race are within a few votes of each other, legal questions and challenges could arise, further complicating matters and prolonging the outcomes.

In other city-related news, Proposition A, the Transnet tax extension which passed 66-33 percent, will extend the half-cent tax to pay for transportation improvements another 40 years. Proposition B, the Gregory Canyon Landfill repeal, failed 36-63 percent; and Proposition F passed 51-48 percent, giving San Diego a five year trial strong-mayor form of government. Proposition J, the Hotel-Motel Tax, failed 41-58 percent. Prop. J would have increased the transient occupancy tax from 10.5 percent to 13 percent, to be used for general government purposes.

Regarding the drawn-out legal battle of control of the Mount Soledad cross sale, Proposition K, which failed 59-40 percent, was among the more contentious measures on the ballot. If passed, the measure would have authorized the city to remove a portion of Mount Soledad Natural Park and sell it to the highest bidder, who would have then been granted ownership of the Mount Soledad cross and given the power to determine whether the cross would be maintained, removed or replaced. “The bottom line there is it looks like the cross will be moved at this point,” Whitburn said.