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Mr. Garcetti and Ms. Gruel had long been seen as the two front runners of the race, consistently staying far ahead of the other candidates in public opinion polls. The former City Council colleagues agree on many issues and could struggle to differentiate themselves in the general election.

The elections will usher in the biggest change in city politics in nearly a decade – in addition to a new mayor, voters were picking a city attorney, controller and eight of the fifteen seats on the City Council. Still, polling places reported low turnout as results started streaming in.

Ms. Gruel has emphasized that she would be the first woman elected mayor in the nation's second-largest city, while Mr. Garcetti, the son of the former district attorney Gil Garcetti, has played up his family's Mexican heritage.

Both of them have promised to fix the city's budget problems, although they have offered few specifics.  Ms. Gruel came under repeated attack from opponents for the support she has received from public employee unions, but those unions could provide critical votes in the runoff.

Early returns also suggested that voters were rejecting a proposed half-cent increase to the city's sale tax, which would have made it 9.5 percent, one of the highest rates in the state. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles's police chief, Charlie Beck, were among the most high-profile supporters of the tax increase, as they said it would generate more than $1 billion years in the next five years to help close the city's budget gap.