Features

SAN FRANCISCO — After three days of ballot counting, Harry Britt conceded the Democratic nomination for state Assembly to Mark Leno on Friday in a race that is expected to ultimately send the first openly gay man to Sacramento. 

“I guess I have (conceded),” Britt said, joking. 

Leno broadened his lead Friday with 1,246 votes. He had 43 percent of the vote to Britt’s 40 percent. 

About 10,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted along with about 4,000 provisional ballots, an elections department spokeswoman said Friday. It’s unknown when a finally tally will be reached. 

San Francisco is considered a safe Democratic district. If Leno is elected in November, he will fill the Assembly seat being vacated by Carole Migden, a lesbian. 

Leno and former Santa Cruz Mayor John Laird are set to become the first openly gay men in the California Legislature, joining three uncloseted lesbians in pushing an agenda that includes giving same-sex couples the same protections as married straight people. 

Laird ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for the seat of Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Boulder Creek, who is being forced out by term limits. Laird will face Republican Chuck Carter, a Monterey real estate agent, this fall for what is considered a safe Democratic seat.