Barbara Bry passes Scott Sherman in mayoral race with thin margin

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – Councilwoman Barbara Bry jumped into second place Monday in the San Diego mayoral primary election, leapfrogging over Councilman Scott Sherman.

The two candidates with the most votes will head to the general election in November, so depending on the final vote count, San Diego voters could be faced with a choice between presumptive front-runner Assemblyman Todd Gloria, a Democrat, and Republican Sherman — or another Democrat in Bry.

The latter option would guarantee San Diego its first Democrat mayor since Bob Filner resigned in 2013 and just the second Democrat elected to the nonpartisan position — several Democrats served as interim mayors in 2005 and 2013 — since Maureen O’Connor stepped down in 1992.

Bry currently leads Sherman by just nine votes out of 338,673 counted in the race so far — or .0026% of the vote.

With a projected 37,000 provisional ballots left to be counted, and with Sherman’s election-night lead of more than 3,000 votes officially made up, the race could prove exceedingly close.

If Bry were to gain votes at the same rate as Monday — which is far from assured — she would win by just under 500 votes.

In the race for City Council District 1, Will Moore maintained his lead over Aaron Brennan for second place. He holds nearly a 730-vote advantage to be in the November general against Joe LaCava.

In Council District 3, Toni Duran increased her lead over Chris Olsen and is all but assured of facing Stephen Whitburn in the general election.