With about 45,000 more votes counted than had been tallied on Election Night, former Congresswoman Barbara Lee has moved into a solid lead in the race to become Oakland's next mayor.

It had been widely predicted when Lee jumped into the race in January that she could clear the field and easily sail to victory in the Oakland mayor's race, but former City Councilmember Loren Taylor has proven to be a worthy opponent.

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters updated its vote tally Friday afternoon at 4 pm, and Lee has taken a five-point lead over Taylor in first-round, ranked-choice votes, and a six-point lead once the final ranked-choice tally is made, removing the other candidates. After the last round of ranked-choice votes, Lee now has 48,855 votes (52.7%) compared to Taylor's 43,860 (47.3%).

The county is now reporting on having received 94,893 votes out of a possible 250,800 registered voters — equivalent to a 37.8% turnout — with presumably some more ballots left to count. That is a far cry from the 20% turnout that was being reported on Tuesday, shortly after polls closed, likely because of a high number of mail-in ballots coming in.

This is a significant change from Tuesday, when Taylor had a two-point lead over Lee after initial ranked-choice counting and a much smaller number of ballots. And Lee's lead may now be insurmountable, with likely only a small number of ballots left to be counted.

Both candidates' campaigns put out statements Friday afternoon, with Lee expressing cautious optimism and Taylor expressing something akin to a half-concession.

"This evening’s results are encouraging," Lee said in a statement. "I decided to run for Mayor knowing that Oakland is a deeply divided City — and I ran to unite our community."

Lee added, "We are exceeding expected turnout for this special election, because the people of Oakland care deeply about our future. This is democracy at work, and I look forward to further election updates."

Taylor's statement was actually released around noon, hours before the latest results were announced — though it sounds like maybe he'd already heard the direction they were going.

"Our team has been in recovery the last few days. As we await the final results, we want to take a moment to offer our deepest thanks to each and every one of you," Taylor said. "We wouldn’t be here without your energy, time, and belief in this campaign."

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters website says that they still have 300 mail-in ballots that need to be cured for signatures, and that mail-in ballots will still be processed on Monday and Tuesday. The next ranked-choice update in the election results won't come until next Friday, April 25, and those results still may not be final.

Previously: Loren Taylor Leads In Early Tally of Oakland Mayoral Election — But It's Ranked Choice and Quite Close