SAN DIEGO – Bob Filner won election as mayor of San Diego early today with 51% of the vote, according to preliminary results.

Carl DeMaio, whose election would have made history as the first gay Republican to take the reins of one of America’s largest cities, conceded the close race was over, during a news conference at 10 am today.

Surrounded by a group of teary-eyed supporters, DeMaio said at the conference that the city needs to begin the healing process after this tumultuous election.

(Editor's note: This interview was originally published HERE by SDGLN media partner Gay San Diego.)

Councilmember Carl DeMaio is the openly gay Republican candidate for San Diego mayor, and has repeatedly said he is running on a platform based on economic and fiscal issues. He has received much criticism from some in the LGBT community, and addresses this criticism as well as his run for mayor in this exclusive interview.

Consider the dilemma of a very left-of-center Democrat, positioned as a "progressive" running against a gay Republican for mayor in a city that has elected Republicans to that position.

He can't exactly verbally gay-bash or openly appeal to the anti-gay vote. But, retiring Congressman Bob Filner, running for San Diego mayor, found a unique way to remind the public that his opponent, Carl DeMaio, is gay.

SAN DIEGO -- Polls are open until 8 tonight for voting in the California primary.

In San Diego, voters are deciding a hotly contested mayoral race in which two of the four candidates are gay or lesbian. The candidates are Carl DeMaio and Bonnie Dumanis, who are gay and lesbian, and Bob Filner and Nathan Fletcher, who are straight. You are invited to take the SDGLN Poll to share with other readers who you are voting for mayor. The SDGLN Poll will close for voting in late afternoon.