Mike McGinn: Seattle's next mayor

Looks like it's time to say hello to the next Mayor of Seattle: Mike McGinn.

The race has finally changed from "too close to call" to "it looks like we have a winner." In the afternoon returns reported by King County Elections around 4:30 PM, McGinn doubled his lead over rival Joe Mallahan and then nearly repeated the feat in evening returns, reported several hours later.

As of this afternoon, the two men were separated by 1,209 votes:

Mike McGinn: 75,657 (49.99%)
Joe Mallahan: 74,448 (49.19%)
Write-in: 1,240 (0.82%)

As of this evening, the gap had grown to 2,384 votes:

Mike McGin: 85,416 (50.31%)
Joe Mallahan: 83,032 (48.91%)
Write-in: 1,328 (0.78%)

Mallahan has never led in the count and now it's a good bet that he never will. Congratulations to Mike McGinn on his apparent victory.