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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Controversial Mayor Ray Nagin, who was criticized for predicting New Orleans would remain a "chocolate city" with a black majority, was far enough ahead in the mayoral race by early Sunday that it appeared he and Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu would face each other in a May 20 runoff.
Official results will not be available until Tuesday, according to Louisiana Secretary of State Al Ater, whose office oversaw the election and was counting the ballots.
With all 442 precincts reporting from Saturday's balloting, Nagin had 33,334 votes (38 percent); Landrieu with 23,923 votes (28 percent) and Ron Forman with 15,207 votes (18 percent).
All three men are Democrats.
The tallies did not include at least 20,000 absentee ballots.
"I am so humbled by the support from this community," Nagin said Saturday night. "There have been too many people who have said we were dead. There are too many people that said we were way too divisive. There were too many people who thought this city should go in a different direction."
Nagin, 49, was a cable company executive before winning the mayor's office in 2002 on a platform of fighting corruption in city government. He has argued during this campaign that with recovery efforts in full throttle, "now is not the time to change leadership."
"(I) never thought I'd have this kind of support after some of the crazy things I said," Nagin added.
'Making progress'
"We were making progress, and then Katrina happened," he said. "We now have a lot of work to do. We have to bring this city together ... it's time for black and white, Hispanic and Asian, everybody to come together for one New Orleans. It's time for us to stop the bickering."
"We're going to rebuild this city into something special. We're going to have quality schools for every child. We will eliminate blight. ... And most importantly ... we will no longer be a city of haves and have-nots."
Landrieu, 45, was a state legislator before being elected lieutenant governor in 2004. He is the brother of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and the son of Moon Landrieu, the city's last white mayor, who left office in 1978.
"Tonight, we take the second step on this journey back home, and I ask all New Orleanians to join with me in this march as we proclaim to America that New Orleans will be rebuilt," Landrieu said. "The questions are simple: Who do you trust with your future, the future of your family?"
Forman, 58, who has strong ties to the business community, has not run for political office before. As president and CEO of the Audubon Nature Institute, Forman oversaw creation of the city's acclaimed zoo and aquarium. His wife, Sally, was Nagin's communications director until the week before her husband entered the mayoral race, when she resigned.
Forman concedes
In a concession speech, Forman promised to "work day and night with either Mitch or Ray to rebuild this city."
"We stood up and said, 'We want change,'" he said. "We represent 20 percent of the vote ... we have a chance to be the greatest city in the world."
The biggest question hanging over the election was just how many residents displaced by the storm would vote -- and how the uprooting of so many people will alter the racial balance of politics in New Orleans, which hasn't had a white mayor in nearly 30 years.
Nearly eight months after Katrina unleashed catastrophic flooding, estimates are that more than six out of 10 New Orleanians are still living outside the city. Any displaced resident who has not registered to vote in another jurisdiction is being allowed to participate in the election, presenting a daunting logistical challenge for election officials.
With much of the city still in ruins, polling stations were consolidated to 76 locations, instead of the 262 used in the last mayoral election four years ago. Ten satellite voting centers were also set up around the state for early voting by people who couldn't make it to New Orleans.
In addition, more than 16,000 people requested absentee ballots for this election, compared to just 160 four years ago. The tab for this year's election is expected to be $4 million, about 10 times the usual cost.
Civil rights groups challenged the election plan in court, charging that it favored white voters because while most of the displaced voters living inside Louisiana are white, most still outside the state are black. They also argued that requiring displaced voters to pay to travel to Louisiana amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax.
The groups wanted the state to establish satellite voting stations in cities such as Houston and Atlanta, where many displaced voters now live -- an idea state officials said was impractical and legally questionable. A federal judge rejected their challenge in late March.
Little federal support
Louisiana Secretary of State Al Ater told reporters Saturday night the elections came with little support from the federal government.
"Well, you know, on 9/11, I don't know if you're familiar with that or not, but 9/11 was an election day in New York," he said. "We've asked the federal government to help finance some of the extraordinary things we've had to do to conduct this election, and to make certain that everyone that wanted to participate had the opportunity to, but they pretty much denied everything that we asked and said they didn't have statutory authority to do it."
He noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave $7.9 million to New York for costs associated with canceling and rescheduling an election.
"Not talking bad about our friends in New York, it's a wonderful place," he said. "But on the bottom of it, they proclaimed how they were proudly helping to keep democracy alive. I've got to tell you, I think democracy is just as important in New Orleans, Louisiana, as it is in New York." (Watch the problems facing New Orleans election workers -- 2:14)
The latest figures from the Louisiana Secretary of State's office show the city has about 298,000 registered voters, about 63 percent of whom are black.
Katrina devastated heavily black areas such as New Orleans East and the lower 9th Ward, where few residents have been able to return. The huuricane spared some mostly white areas such as the French Quarter and Uptown, where many residents quickly came back.
CNN's John King, Susan Roesgen, Robert Yoon and Molly Levinson contributed to this report.
So now it will be down to the two "real" candidates in the campaign and we'll see whether or not the people of New Orleans REALLY hate Nagin.