For many this election was a bit of an unknown.
With both Tauranga mayor Stuart Crosby and Western Bay Mayor Ross Paterson standing down there was no obvious front-runner for either job.
The sheer number of candidates - 11 for the Tauranga City mayoralty and five for Western Bay - meant it was always going to be fairly close with the votes split across so many.
I was surprised to see new Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless win with a margin of almost 2000 in this afternoon's progress results.
For a new mayor that has to be an encouragement.