Kate Gallego is only the second woman to be elected to the office.

PHOENIX — Kate Gallego has won the special election for mayor of Phoenix.

The special election was called because former mayor Greg Stanton resigned to run for Congressional District 9. He won his election, but the Phoenix mayoral race couldn't be called in November because no candidate reached the 50 percent of the total votes required for an outright winner.

A special runoff election was called with the top two going head-to-head in the March 12 election: Kate Gallego and Daniel Valenzuela.

Gallego is only the second woman to be elected to the office, and, had he won, Valenzuela would have been the first Latino elected mayor of Phoenix.

The polls closed at 7 p.m. but more than 90 percent of the ballots were mail-ins and cast before today.

The City of Phoenix posted the first results shortly after 8 p.m. and showed Gallego is leading with more than 58 percent of the votes.

Gallego took the stage at her campaign party minutes after that to give her victory speech.

"We overcame doubters, rain, we overcame dark money and a lot of it," Gallego said as she declared victory Tuesday night.

If you'd like to see her full acceptance speech check it out on the 12 News YouTube page.

The candidates

Democrat Kate Gallego received 45 percent of the total vote during the November election, just shy of the 50 percent needed to win.

Democrat Daniel Valenzuela received the second most.

Gallego is a former Phoenix City Council member who led the campaign for the transit tax.

Valenzuela is also a former Phoenix City Council member and current Glendale firefighter.

12 News hosted a debate between the two mayoral candidates.

Both candidates also sat down with Emma Jade and Paul Gerke ahead of Election Day.