Nasheed or Green would have been the city's first female board president.

"We gave this campaign everything we had," Nasheed said. "Unfortunately, the fake progressives got in the way of progress," she said, referring to Green.

Green said she was "incredibly proud of the issues oriented campaign that we ran on a shoe-string budget, that spoke directly to the needs of residents of our city."

Of the top three candidates, Green raised the least amount of money, at around $117,000, compared to $304,000 by Reed and $543,000 by Nasheed.

Green did not respond directly to the accusation by Nasheed of being a spoiler candidate.

"I'm not looking to tear another woman down on the fifth day of Women's History Month," Green said. Less than 150 votes separated Nasheed and Green.

Reed called for unity following a hard-fought race and said he hoped to put the divisiveness "in the rear view mirror and work collectively for the greater good."

The race was fueled by nearly $1 million in campaign cash among the top three candidates and was steeped in name calling, especially between Reed and Nasheed.