Calling it a “landslide,” Anthony Tordillos declared victory Thursday in his quest to become the next San Jose District 3 city councilmember as his challenger Gabby Chavez-Lopez officially conceded the race.

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While a few dozen ballots remain unprocessed, Tordillos, 33, has built a 2,374-vote lead, making it mathematically impossible for Chavez-Lopez, 37, to make up the ground, putting an end to the months-long battle to find a replacement for disgraced former City Councilmember Omar Torres, who resigned while embroiled in a child sex abuse scandal.

As of Wednesday evening, Tordillos received 5,328 of the 8,282 votes counted, or 64.3%. According to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, only 51 ballots remained unprocessed as of that time.

Tordillos — who previously worked at Google and served until Wednesday as the city’s planning commission chair — has seen an astronomical rise in his political stock since the seven-person political field to represent downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods was announced. He has marketed himself as an independent thinker and change agent versus the establishment politics that have slowed progress on residents’ most significant concerns.

“District 3 voters showed they won’t settle for status quo San Jose politics. They’re tired of the same old fights between ‘business’ and ‘labor’ — they want a councilmember they can count on to deliver results on housing affordability, homelessness, and public safety,” Tordillos said in a statement Thursday. “We were never supposed to make it this far, but thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who knocked on over 30,000 doors, we’re here.”

Although Chavez-Lopez previously said she would wait until all votes were counted, she gracefully conceded Thursday, thanking all her supporters and volunteers and wishing Tordillos well as he becomes more fully entrenched in city politics.

“While the results were not what we hoped for, I’m proud of the campaign we ran – one that stayed rooted in our values and focused on the people of District 3,” Chavez-Lopez said in a statement to The Mercury News. “Thank you, San Jose, for the chance to listen, learn and lead with purpose. I want to congratulate Anthony Tordillos on his victory and wish him success in the work ahead.”

With the City Council appointing local businessman Carl Salas in an interim capacity as the election dragged on, Chavez-Lopez and Tordillos eventually emerged as the top two candidates in the primary. Although Chavez-Lopez was the leading vote-getter with nearly 30%, a runoff was needed because no candidate surpassed the majority threshold to clinch an outright victory.

In the primary, Tordillos threw a wrench into the election by narrowly overtaking Matthew Quevedo, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s deputy, for a spot in the runoff. The results were so close that an automatic recount was necessary, which confirmed that Tordillos finished in second place by six votes.

From the outset of his campaign, Tordillos identified homelessness, affordable housing development, public safety, and improving downtown vibrancy as his chief priorities. While he agreed with Chavez-Lopez on what residents’ most pressing issues were, they differed on some key policies, especially in addressing homelessness.

Despite being the youngest of the candidates, he emphasized his experience not only as a neighborhood leader but also on the planning commission, which he said gave him an advantage in understanding problems and finding solutions.

“I’m the candidate who has actually presided over meetings in the council chambers, who has experience actually working at city hall with public policy in areas like homelessness and housing affordability and economic development,” Tordillos told the Mercury News ahead of his victory. “I think that given that this is such a short term, just about 17 months, once the victor is sworn in, we need someone who can really hit the ground running and be an effective representative for the people.”

Tordillos will join the dais when the City Council returns from its recess in August.

Despite not agreeing on every issue, Mahan threw his political support behind Tordillos, even helping to knock on doors as the race entered its final stretch.

On election night this week, Tordillos expressed his genuine surprise at his decisive advantage when the first batch of results was released. Through each precinct in District 3, Tordillos performed well. Not only did Tordillos win each area, but he maintained a several-point advantage in his worst-performing neighborhoods.

Despite Chavez-Lopez leading the primary from election night until the certification of votes, one of the key questions became how she and Tordillos would capture the voters of residents who supported other candidates.

Quevedo, who earned 22% of the primary vote, quickly endorsed Tordillos.

While the rhetoric between the candidates remained relatively civil throughout the months-long battle, the prevalence of negative campaigning appeared to have a significant influence on the runoff results.

Chavez-Lopez was bombarded with a deluge of negative campaign advertisements and mailers that questioned her integrity, her connections to special interests, and her relationship with a PG&E executive who was also connected to her campaign. Between political action committees, hundreds of thousands of dollars flooded into the race to oppose candidates.

As the frequent target of negative campaigning, Chavez-Lopez said that residents “deserved campaigns rooted in truth and integrity — not misinformation.”

“The level of negative campaigning from outside special interests – particularly the California Association of REALTORS and Silicon Valley BIZ PAC – was deeply disappointing and crossed a line,” Chavez-Lopez said. “As someone on the receiving end, I know firsthand that we must do better. I remain committed to raising the standing of how we conduct local elections.”