ATLANTA — The Atlanta mayoral race is heading to a runoff.
Felicia Moore, City Council president, emerged as the clear leader and advanced on election night. Two days later, the Associated Press said councilmember Andre Dickens clinched the second spot.
The news of a runoff doesn't come as a surprise because many political analysts indicated early on that this highly-anticipated race would likely go to a runoff.
There were 14 candidates running to be the city's next leader. With Dickens advancing, this means Kasim Reed, who was current Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' predecessor, won't be returning to office.
Reed served as mayor from 2010 to 2018. But Dickens picked up momentum in recent weeks and was endorsed by former Mayor Shirley Franklin. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced in May that she wouldn’t seek a second term, creating a wide-open race to succeed her. Many voters said they were undecided ahead of Election Day.
The results are not official until the votes are certified.
11Alive spoke to Moore and Dickens Wednesday morning about the mayoral race.
Moore said she plans to stay with the same message over the next few weeks to work to get more voters.
"What I want to show them is my breadth and depth of experience, the consistency I've had as a councilmember, and as a council president, and just my track record of service."
"And now that the field is narrower, there can be more focus on some of those details," she said.
Moore said the key difference between herself and Dickens is her experience.
"I've really worked to set policy that has set this city in a greater direction," she said.
As for Dickens, he told 11Alive he is ready to hit the ground running.
Many residents expected the conversation to be about a possible runoff between Moore and Reed, but Dickens said he wasn't shocked to see his position in the election.
"I'm data driven so my whole team has been looking at numbers for the last two and a half, three weeks, to be able to know where our votes were coming from -- what precincts -- so we were hoping for these precincts to come in."
He said he believed undecided voters showed up to the polls to make a difference in the race.
"This is not about talk for me, it's about delivery, it's about getting things done," he said.
Get the Nov. 2 election results below.