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Keith Wilson has maintained a significant lead in the race for Portland mayor, enough for Oregonian/OregonLive.com to declare him the winner.

Wilson, the 61-year-old CEO of Portland trucking company Titan Freight, crossed the threshold for the number of ballots needed to stay in the lead under the city’s new voting system during Wednesday’s 5:10 p.m. update. His top opponents in the race, Portland City Commissioners Carmen Rubio and Rene Gonzalez, have both called on Wilson to abandon the race.

In this new system, voters rank candidates based on preference. Candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated after each round and their votes are redistributed among voters’ next choices. Candidates must earn at least 50% plus one of the votes counted to win – known as the voting threshold. After votes were counted Wednesday, Wilson was the first to cross that threshold. Wilson also led in the first vote on Tuesday.

“I’m so humbled,” Wilson told OPB after the Oregonian called his race Wednesday night. “I’m incredibly excited that we have this opportunity to really bring a different vision to Portland.”

On Wednesday evening, Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio was closest to Wilson’s lead. Still, she called Wilson to relent shortly after the results came back.

“As for our next mayor, I’m glad we have someone who clearly believes in Portland,” Rubio said in an emailed statement. “My hope for (Wilson) is that he enters City Hall with a desire to listen and learn from those who have worked hard to get Portland back on its feet.”

City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez followed Rubio in the evening’s preliminary results. According to the results, Wilson secured 19,000 votes from people who placed Gonzalez first to ultimately solidify his lead.

“I just called to congratulate our next mayor, Keith Wilson, on a well-run race,” Gonzalez said Wednesday evening in a statement shared with OPB. “It’s time for all Portlanders to rally behind him as we work to make Portland everything we want it to be and a city we can be proud of again.”

Multnomah County, which oversees municipal elections, expects to count at least 115,000 additional ballots this election cycle. It seems like this won’t be enough to skew the outcome of this race.

Wilson was the top political outsider in the 19-person mayoral race, competing with three current city commissioners. That became a major talking point: “Electing one of our failed city leaders to the mayor’s office will double down on the dysfunction of the status quo,” Wilson wrote in a candidate questionnaire submitted to OPB/The Oregonian.

Wilson’s campaign focused on an ambitious plan to end unsheltered homelessness by 2026 solely by expanding the city’s shelter capacity and strengthening the city’s beleaguered partnership with Multnomah County to oversee its homeless services programs. He also promised to crack down on carbon emissions, in part by converting all city vehicles to run on electricity (which Wilson did with all Titan trucks in 2023).

Wilson said he has a plan to transfer ownership of Titan before the new year because elected leaders in Portland cannot hold a second job.

Wilson will be the first mayor in Portland’s new form of government. Under this voter-approved change, the mayor will no longer serve on the City Council, instead focusing on running city departments alongside a new city manager. The plan also expands the size of the city council to twelve members. Which councilors will also be elected in this week’s elections. Several candidates in those races lead in early returns, but the results remain preliminary.

Wilson said he is eager to get to know his new colleagues at City Hall.

“I look forward to having real, purposeful conversations with each new council member in the coming weeks to see what vision they have for Portland,” Wilson said. “The message from the voters is clear. They want change in the way we care for Portland. So we’re going to listen.”