PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Transportation company CEO Keith Wilson is leading preliminary voting results in the race for Portland mayor, according to unofficial results released by Multnomah County Tuesday evening.

In a single-winner choice contest like this race, tabulation rounds are held where the candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated. Votes from eliminated candidates are transferred to the voter’s next preference. Rounds continue until one candidate receives 50% +1.

Nearly two dozen people ran for mayor this year, and for the first time, Portland voters were able to rank their top six candidates based on their preference.

When the votes were released Tuesday evening, Multnomah County conducted 19 runoffs until Wilson emerged with 63% of the vote. City Commissioner Carmen Rubio had 37%.

After the first voting tallies were released showing him in the lead, Wilson said Martin Luther King Jr. at his campaign party at Old Town Brewing. Boulevard that his campaign was hopeful he would prevail.

“This is all a new process for us, but the lead seems significant and we are confident in the efforts we are making. We hope it holds,” he said.

Earlier, as he campaigned on the streets with his sign-waving supporters, Wilson said he felt good about his chances of winning the race. If he wins, after a rest, he goes to work.

“We have already created a road map for tomorrow. We already know what we are going to do in the first few days, so we are not going to wait, we are going to celebrate in a very muted way because it is difficult the work is obvious,” he said.

Wilson has campaigned to tackle the homeless problem and get people off the streets quickly.

In addition to being CEO, he is the founder of a non-profit organization, Shelter Portland.

Rubio also spoke to reporters before the preliminary results were announced. She said she didn’t know how she would fare in the election results, but she said she felt good and was hopeful because people want Portland to improve.

She said it was important for different voices to be heard.

“Working people’s voices, women’s voices, people’s voices of color, Black and Indigenous voices, we need trans voices, everyone. We need to be just as inclusive – because that is the Portland of today,” she said outside. the sports bra in Northeast Portland, where her campaign and supporters had gathered.

Another mayoral hopeful, City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, was also optimistic Tuesday before the voting deadline, saying his campaign has been hard on the streets in the final weeks of the race.

During the campaign, he portrayed himself as a law-and-order candidate and said he would enforce the city’s camping ban.

“I have been the standard-bearer for public safety and livability since I entered the public space,” he said at his campaign party in Kells in downtown Portland. “That means creating a place where families can thrive, where seniors can age in place, where builders and entrepreneurs can succeed in the city.”

After the initial voting results were released, Gonzalez said he wanted to see more results in subsequent releases, especially from East Portland, which largely fits into the newly created City Council District 1. Voters approved the creation of four city council districts in previous elections. and the changes will come into effect next year.

“We are behind, but you know, there are still a lot of votes outstanding in District 1. We were concerned about this because we saw that the early results in District 1 were very slow. We heard on the ground a lot of ESL voters were confused by the rankings,” he said. “I am hopeful that this will make some ground, not just for my election but for our democracy. It’s very important that we don’t just push aside an entire section of the city that seems intimidated by ranking choices. to vote.”

KATU political analyst Jim Moore said there is a path to victory for Gonzalez, especially if District 1 voters return their ballots on Tuesday.

But Moore said things were looking good for Wilson as his lead grew from the first lap through lap 19.

It’s important to note that Wilson is not the winner, at least not yet. Please remember that these are preliminary results. All votes must be processed and counted before an actual winner can be announced.

Every time Multnomah County releases a new set of voting results, it goes through all the tabulation rounds in this race so you can see who is in the lead. Check that out here.

The next scheduled publication of voting results based on the rankings is Wednesday at 6 p.m

The release of Multnomah County election results included votes from three counties: Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington. Although most of Portland falls within the boundaries of Multnomah County, parts of it are also in Clackamas and Washington counties.

The official certification of the results is on December 2.

KATU reporters Victor Park, Barry Mangold and Tanvi Varma contributed.