CLEVELAND, Ohio - Councilman Zack Reed out dueled Councilman Jeff Johnson and six other candidates Tuesday to capture the No. 2 spot in Cleveland's mayoral primary.

Now, the challenge for Reed is finding enough votes to compete with the No. 1 finisher, incumbent Frank Jackson.

Jackson garnered 38.7 percent of the light-turnout primary vote, unofficial returns from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections showed. Reed snagged 21.9 percent. Johnson came in third with 15.4 percent.

Jackson and Reed advance to the Nov. 7 general election.

Despite victory, Frank Jackson has his work cut out for him

The challenge for both candidates is to push their support levels over 50 percent. While Jackson fared better Tuesday, about 61 percent of the electorate voted for someone else for mayor.

Jackson was unconcerned. He said in an interview Tuesday night with cleveland.com that he expected there would be opposition to a fourth term and that now his campaign will study the results to find a strategy to win over voters.

"That's part of what we'll do as we develop campaign strategy going forward," Jackson said. "There will be some assessment of that vote ... and [we'll] make some determination of what needs to be done and how it needs to be done to ensure that we get 51 percent."

Cleveland Councilman Zack Reed, here surrounded by campaign supporters, finished second in Tuesday's non-partisan mayoral primary. Reed says he has a message that can vault him to victory against Mayor Frank Jackson in November.

But Reed is optimistic he can tap that opposition and pull ahead of the three-term mayor.

"Today we sent a broad message across the city, from Kamm's Corner, to Collinwood, to Mount Pleasant to Glenville. We need a new mayor," Reed told supporters Tuesday night at a West Side restaurant.

The numbers translate to more than 60 percent sending that message, Reed said. He thinks he can win over voters by offering his vision of a safer Cleveland that will lead to a better city.

"We're a kid who grew up right here in Cleveland. A kid who was raised by a single mom. Who had the dream to one day be the mayor of the city of Cleveland. Who had the dream to one day go back to Mount Pleasant and help the people," he said. "And now we're going to take that dream across the city."

Here's how the rest of the challengers fared:

Eric Brewer, 1.5 percent

Brandon Chrostowski, 9.5 percent

Robert Kilo, 5.3 percent

Tony Madalone, 4.6 percent

Bill Patmon, 2.7 percent

Dyrone Smith, 0.4 percent

Jackson, seeking an unprecedented fourth, 4-year term, has campaigned on a platform that touts Cleveland as having a bright future. That future, though, is not guaranteed, he says.

The mayor argues he deals in reality, living in a neighborhood that shares the concerns of crime, safety, housing and unemployment that many residents have.

He argues that Cleveland has improved during his tenure and now is poised to become a great city, in part, he says, because he is "willing to do the work."

Reed has built his campaign as the "Safety First" candidate. He has criticized Jackson for a homicide rate that he says has residents living afraid in their own neighborhoods.

And he has argued that Jackson was too focused on helping downtown while neighborhood needs went unfulfilled.

Reed has pledged to add police to make neighborhoods safer and create jobs to keep young people out of trouble. As crime goes down and people feel safer, he says, the neighborhoods will rebound. But he has not said what services he would cut to pay for more officers.