PORTNAD, Ore. (KOIN) — Although no winner has been officially announced, Gresham is electing a new mayor for the first time in about a decade.

The race remains tight between Travis Stovall and Eddy Morales. According to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, Morales sits at 36.52% while Stovall has garnered 36.85%, a difference of only 145 votes, as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.

“We’re feeling fairly positive, ‘cautiously optimistic’ I’m sure are the two words that kind of everyone is saying kind of nationally,” Stovall said when he spoke to KOIN 6 News Wednesday morning.

Stovall, a business owner and vice president of TriMet’s board of directors, said he heard all the votes were counted for in Gresham, but that might not be the case.

Tim Scott, director of Multnomah County Elections, said all readable ballots received by 8 p.m. Tuesday have been counted. However, they still need to count damaged ballots, out-of-county ballots, hand-processed ballots, duplicated ballots, and challenged ballots.

This leaves Morales hopeful.

“We still know there are thousands of votes that are still being counted in Gresham and so, we look forward to that. We’re really, really excited about the turnout we had in our city,” he said.

Morales is currently the position 2 city councilor in Gresham. Regardless of whether he wins the mayoral race, he said he’s already celebrating some wins that he feels will greatly improve the city council.

“I’m really really excited. You know, two of my colleagues had successful victories yesterday, Nina DiNucci is now on the council, as well as councilor Vince Jones-Dixon got his re-election,” Morales said.

He feels that together, he, DiNucci, Jones-Dixon, and also councilmember Mario Palmero, will be able to bring about the change he wants to see.

In interviews with KOIN 6 News on Oct. 28, both candidates addressed the city’s $13-million budget shortfall. Both Stovall and Morales agreed they would need to make cuts. Stovall said he would likely increase the utility fee. Morales said he hopes the cost of replenishing the budget would not fall on Gresham’s most vulnerable communities.

Shane Bemis, who was on the city council and then mayor of Gresham for a total of 18 years, resigned in June, days after both the Gresham police chief and city manager announced their impending retirements. The city council appointed Karylinn Echols to replace Bemis as the new mayor but she pledged not to run in the November election.