Assemblyman Kevin McCarty maintained his lead in the race to become Sacramento’s next mayor while Flojaune Cofer gained enough votes to stay in the race Tuesday evening. The latest batch of returns, which the county released at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, showed McCarty in the lead with about 52.8% and Cofer at about 47%.

Sacramento’s two mayoral candidates in the latest update of results Tuesday, after the gap was 10.4% the morning after Election night.

As of Tuesday afternoon, around 7,500 votes separated the two candidates, a drop from the 9,000 votes that separated the two last week.