SEATTLE -- Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn is still leading in the race against T-Mobile Executive Joe Mallahan for Seattle mayor, but not by much.

Results released Wednesday afternoon showed both candidates with just over 49 percent of the vote, with McGinn leading by just 462 votes.

After the first batch of results was released Tuesday night, less than 1,000 votes separated the two candidates.

"We're definitely in a better situation than any of us would expect at this time," said Charla Neuman, spokeswoman for the Mallahan campaign, "given that we cut the gap in half but yet there were so few additional votes counted."

The next set of numbers from King County will not be out until 4:30 on Thursday afternoon.

Mallahan and McGinn are two political newcomers. Both outpolled Mayor Greg Nickels in the August primary and advanced to Tuesday's election. Nickels had been dogged by criticism of his handling of a snow storm last year.

McGinn made opposition to the tunnel a centerpiece of his primary campaign, but softened his position a few weeks ago. His campaign highlighted experience he had leading parks levy campaign and his activism with the Sierra Club, the national environmental organization.

The winner of this race will likely not be known for days, as more mail-in ballots trickle in. They need only have been postmarked by election day to count.