ATLANTIC CITY — In a city where the State of New Jersey has usurped much of the power of the mayor and City Council, the primary battles for both were nonetheless fiercely fought.

With unofficial results coming into campaign headquarters Tuesday night, Councilman Frank M. Gilliam Jr. watched on Facebook as his rival for the Democratic nominee for mayor, City Council President Marty Small Sr., addressed his constituents a few blocks away on Atlantic Avenue in apparent defeat shortly before 10 p.m.

Gilliam then declared victory as his supporters hoisted him on their shoulders, prayed and cheered. With 100 percent of the vote in, Small had a 100 vote edge in the machine vote, according to posted results, but Gilliam had a 485 vote edge in vote by mail ballots, giving him the apparent victory.

"As we move forward, Christie is more or less a thing of the past," Gilliam, 47, said. " Our job is to build and grow Atlantic City."

If the unofficial results stand, Gilliam will face Republican incumbent Mayor Don Guardian, 63, in the November general election.

Election officials said about 1,000 mail-in ballots had been submitted countywide, with much of that expected to be from Atlantic City. Unofficial tally of the vote-by-mail vote had Gilliam with 694 and Small with 209, which was expected to give the election to Gilliam. Small held a small edge in the machine votes, according to results called in to campaigns.

All the candidates were anticipating the Jan. 16, 2018, Inauguration Day ending the Chris Christie era, and were hopeful that the locally unpopular state takeover would end with it, as promised by the leading candidates to succeed him. Four candidates ran for a chance to unseat Guardian in November.

Guardian has governed Atlantic City during an exceptionally bumpy era, in which the nearly broke city flirted with insolvency, weathered the closures of five casinos and fought unsuccessfully to stave off a Christie-led takeover in which the city government is being run by a law firm in West Orange.

Former Republican Sen. Jeffrey Chiesa and his law firm have billed more than $1.1 million for services related to the Atlantic City takeover and have overruled City Council on matters including the privatization of public works and the regulation of rolling chairs on the Boardwalk. The state also has moved to unilaterally modify public safety worker contracts but has been stymied by court orders in efforts to lay off half the fire department.

Small, 43, fought the governor alongside Mayor Guardian during numerous trips to Trenton. He will keep his seat on city council.

Gilliam, an at-large councilman, stayed more on the sidelines of the battle to keep the state out, and had the support of a super PAC, Our Atlantic City, that took out billboards and did opposition research against Small.

Both candidates flung some mud at the other in the closing weeks, dredging up behavior from decades ago.

On Primary Day, Small, dressed in a red campaign T-shirt, rallied his red-clad troops in a huddle and cheer inside his storefront Atlantic Avenue headquarters and urged them to call everyone in their contact list to get out the vote.

The suit-and-tie clad Gilliam, who said his campaign had knocked on 1,500 doors, had the aid of a voter turnout specialist from Maryland, who was holed up in his Atlantic Avenue headquarters. He said his campaign had "raised the bar" and brought "a different sense" to the fray. He had the backing of the local Democratic party and raised $87,000 in donations, according to recent campaign filings.

Small reported $34,000 in contributions.

"It got a little dirty, but politics is what it is," Gilliam said.

"The Reds are out here in big numbers," Small said. "We just have to tell the voters why Atlantic City's problems are big, but the solution is Small. Here come the Reds."

Also running were Jimmy Whitehead, a 60-year-old Navy veteran who grew up in Washington, D.C., who wants to turn the city into a cybersecurity hub, and Fareed Abdullah, 38, a substitute teacher who previously has run for city council.