Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez edged out Democrat Angela Alioto to secure a spot against fellow supervisor Gavin Newsom in a December runoff according to unofficial results late Tuesday night.

The race to become San Francisco's next mayor has been a long and winding road for all the candidates. Going into the Nov. 4 election, Newsom led the polls by 20 points. Newsom, a moderate Democrat, faced his strongest opposition from three candidates who are all to the left of him politically. Matt Gonzalez, Angela Alioto and Tom Ammiano all fought for a second-place finish.

Gonzalez, 38, president of the Board of Supervisors, picked up momentum in the last few weeks leading up to the election, especially among young voters, by focusing his campaign efforts on house parties, art auctions, music benefits and poetry readings.

Alioto, 54, a civil rights attorney, is the daughter of one of San Francisco's most popular mayors, Joe Alioto. In the past few weeks, Alioto fashioned her campaign literature to refute Newsom's claims. Alioto, who was recently endorsed by one of San Francisco's most liberal publications, the Bay Guardian, told students at SF State's Mayoral Forum that she is the one who can beat Newsom.

Four years ago, Ammiano waged a write-in campaign for mayor, tallying 49,000 votes that put him head-to-head with incumbent Willie Brown in a runoff race. Although he lost, this act changed the face of politics forever in San Francisco and marked a shift to the left. Although polls suggest Ammiano lost support, he was confident of making it to the runoff.

In addition to mayoral votes, San Franciscans also voted for district attorney and sheriff.

In the close district attorney's race, incumbent Terence Hallinan will face deputy city attorney Kamala Harris in the December runoff. Hallinan received 36.6 percent of the vote, Harris 33.1 percent and Fazio 30.3 percent.

Incumbent Sheriff Michael Hennesey won easily over deputy sheriff Tony Carrasco by more than 60 percentage points.