Quinton Lucas and Jolie Justus will face each other in a runoff election in August to determine Kansas City's next mayor.
The two city council members received the most votes in a field of 11 candidates in Tuesday's primary.
According to the Kansas City Election Board, 40,180 people cast votes, for a turnout of 19.15 percent. It was a close race between the top two candidates. Justus received 9,181 votes, or 23.11 percent of votes cast, and Lucas received 8,807 votes, or 22.16 percent.
The winning candidates immediately began staking out political territory for the stretch run.
"There are clear distinctions between myself and Councilwoman Justus," Lucas said. "I respect her service in the state senate and I respect her service on the city council, but we have a different way of doing things. Mine's been open, collaborative, transparent, and I look forward to sharing that over the weeks ahead."
The runoff election takes place in June.