SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Assemblyman Kevin McCarty has declared victory in the race to become Sacramento’s next mayor, but his opponent Flojaune Cofer, says she’s not conceding in the election until every vote is counted.

In a late Tuesday night post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Cofer urged Sacramento voters to check their ballot status online and make sure their vote was counted.

“My 42nd birthday wish is to count every vote because every vote matters,” Cofer wrote in the social media post. “I am deeply committed to the democratic process and to amplifying the voices of every Sacramentan. That’s why I’m waiting until every single vote is counted before making any statements about the outcome of this election.”

In the latest batch of election results Sacramento county released Tuesday afternoon, McCarty maintained his lead, winning 50.7% of the vote while Cofer had 49.3% — roughly the same percentages as last week’s updates.

As of Tuesday’s update, McCarty has won 95,310 votes and Cofer has won 92,678. McCarty has been leading since early results were first released Election Night. An estimated 8,624 ballots countywide, as of Tuesday afternoon, still need to be processed. County elections officials will release the next ballot update by 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Paul Mitchell, vice president of bipartisan voting data firm Political Data Inc., said according to his analysis of the data, McCarty has indeed won. He said the mayoral race will be decided next Tuesday after the roughly 2,587 remaining ballots from voters in the city are counted. But even if Cofer wins all those remaining ballots, she would not win the race.

McCarty declared a mathematical victory after the latest vote count was released. He congratulated Cofer for running “a spirited and passionate campaign.”

“It is clear that voters want to see change and I am ready to start the hard work needed to move Sacramento forward,” McCarty said in a post on X. “Achieving this will require a collaborative effort with our City Council, local elected officials, business leaders, labor groups, nonprofits and our broader community. As I said often during this campaign — if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

After vote centers close, the Sacramento County elections office reports results every two hours until all ballots submitted in-person at vote centers on Election Day are counted. After Election Night, the county posts elections results twice a week — every Friday and Tuesday at 4 p.m. — until all the ballots are counted and the election is certified on Dec. 3.

Each time the elections office post results online, county officials have to make sure all challenged or contested ballots in that processed batch have been reviewed and verified by adjudication teams. Challenged ballots can be anything from a submitted ballot that can’t be read to one with a write-in candidate.

Those challenged ballots have to be tabulated and added to the total before the county can post an elections results update.

In her Tuesday night post on X, Cofer thanked everyone who voted, volunteered and supported her campaign for mayor.

“I believe in honoring the hard work of voters, election officials, and the values of fairness and transparency that define our democracy,” Cofer said. “I know that together, we’re creating a Sacramento where more is possible.”

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(The Bee’s Theresa Clift contributed to this story.)

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