The city of Waltham had its preliminary elections for mayor on Tuesday, according to a Sept. 17 Waltham Patch article.

By the end of the day, the three candidates vying for mayor were winnowed down to two. Mayor Jeanette McCarthy, the incumbent, and Councillor At-Large Diane LeBlanc will move forward on the ballot in November. Melissa Downes was eliminated from contention.

McCarthy received 3,977 votes, which translated to about 62% of the vote, according to a Sept. 17 Waltham Wicked Local article. LeBlanc received 2,050 votes, or about 32% of the vote, and Downes received 344 votes, or about 5% of the vote. The rest were write-ins or blank votes.

There are more than 62,000 people living in Waltham, of which 34,232 are registered voters, according to the same Patch article. 6,429 people voted in this preliminary election,  or about 19% of the registered voters and about 10% of Waltham’s total population, per the Wicked Local article.

If McCarthy wins the general election, she will be one of the city’s longest serving mayors, according to Waltham Wicked Local. According to Patch, she sent a memo earlier this year that indicated that she would not run, but she has since changed her mind. McCarthy said in a Patch candidate profile on Sept. 16 that the single most pressing issue in Waltham at the moment is “over development and its impact on our infrastructure and traffic.”

LeBlanc initially decided to run after McCarthy said that she would not run for a fourth term of office, according to a Sept. 9 Patch candidate profile. LeBlanc said in her candidate profile that the “main message” of her campaign was that she could provide change. She listed many issues as pressing in Waltham, including “improving educational outcomes for all of Waltham’s children,” “protecting our neighborhoods” and “creating affordable homes.”

The general election for mayor will be held on Nov. 5.