West Central Labour candidate Mandy Richards believes she has closed the gap on her Conservative opponent as the votes are coming in.
After the first votes were counted, Conservative Tony Devenish took a commanding lead, but Ms Richards has begun to close the gap.
She previously stood as a GLA candidate for Havering and Redbridge in 2012, losing narrowly to Conservative Roger Evans.
She said: “It seems to be nip and tuck, not quite as when I stood at Havering and Redbridge, but midway through we seemed to have made some ground, so I’m feeling quietly optimistic.
“I’m about to see which boxes have gone through to see if we’re likely to pick up more ground across the afternoon.”
While it is looking unlikely that she will be able to overcome the deficit, she is confident that Sadiq Khan will win the race for mayor.
“I’m quite calm and collected at present, it’s not as close as it could have been at this stage so the nerves are not quite as heightened, but I’m reasonably pleased with how it’s going.
“Sadiq’s doing fantastically well, but then we all expected that. I think Zac was hoping for a late spurt, but that doesn’t seem to be happening at present, so it looks as though we’re safe for a Labour mayor which is fantastic.”
