Some Races Still Up In Air

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown will have to survive a runoff next month to win re-election. Exactly whom he'll face still wasn't clear early Wednesday.

The hotly contested mayoralty race was one of the highlights in an off-year election that also saw a stalemate in the election of a Mississippi governor, complete control of the Virginia legislature going to the GOP for the first time since the Civil War and approval by San Francisco voters of a ban on ATM fees.

Houston voters soundly rejected - by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin with virtually all of the vote counted - a proposal to build an expensive new sports arena, raising the possibility that the Houston Rockets, the city's pro basketball team, could leave town.

In San Antonio, voters were on their way to approving a new arena, assuring that the National Basketball Association champion San Antonio Spurs would stay there for another 25 years. Higher car rental and hotel taxes will help fund the new arena.

With 83 percent of San Francisco's precincts reporting, Brown had 57,124 votes, or 49 percent. Frank Jordan, the former police chief and mayor, had 25,286, or 22 percent, while political consultant Clint Reilly was still in the running with 18,388 votes, or 16 percent. That didn't include write-in votes for Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano, which amounted to about 5 percent of the total.

San Franciscans also voted 59 percent to 41 percent to ban the $1 or $2 bank surcharges for using another bank's automated teller machines. The industry has promised a court fight. No court in the nation has ruled specifically on an ATM fee ban.

Here is a look at election results from around the country:

GOVERNORS:

• KENTUCKY: Democrat Paul Patton, the first Kentucky governor since 1800 to be eligible for successive terms, easily beat Republican Peppy Martin and marijuana-legalization advocate Gatewood Galbraith.

• MISSISSIPPI: With votes still being counted, neither Republican former Rep. Mike Parker nor Democratic Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove had a majority, making it likely the Democratic-controlled state House will choose. The winner succeeds Gov. Kirk Fordice, the state's only GOP governor this century.

• NEW JERSEY: Democrats picked up at least two seats, narrowing the 48-32 edge Republicans had in Assembly before Tuesday.

• VIRGINIA: Republicans took control of both houses of the Virginia G2eneral Assembly for the first time ever, retaining their majority in the state Senate and picking up at least two seats in the House.

• WASHINGTON: Democrats lost a chance to take control of state House when a Republican won a special election for district along Idaho line that has steadily voted GOP since 1936. Democrats control Senate and governor's office.

• ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa.: Republican businessman Jim Roddey became county executve in a newly created position that includes suburbs of Pittsburgh. He defeated Cyril Wecht, the longtime coroner.

• BALTIMORE: Democrat Martin O'Malley cruised to victory in a city where Republicans are outnumbered 9-to-1. He had emphasized a zero-tolerance policing strategy similar to the one that helped lower crime in New York.

• BIRMINGHAM, Ala.: Councilman Bernard Kincaid upset interim Mayor William Bell, who was chosen to take over this summer after 20-year mayor Richard Arrington stepped down.

• COLUMBUS, Ohio: Democratic City Council President Michael Coleman became the city's first black mayor. Republicans had ruled City Hall since 1972.

• HOUSTON: Lee P. Brown won a second two-year term over the publisher of a weekly newspaper and a wrestling promoter.

• INDIANAPOLIS: Developer Bart Peterson becomes the first Democrat to lead Indianapolis in 30 years after beating Indiana Secretary of State Sue Anne Gilroy.

• MONTGOMERY, Ala.: Lawyer Bobby Bright beat conservative Emory Folmar, who had been mayor since 1978.

• PHILADELPHIA: City Councilman John F. Street, a Democrat, narrowly beat businessman Sam Katz, who was trying to become the first Republican mayor of Philadelphia in nearly 50 years.

• SALT LAKE CITY: Rocky Anderson beat fellow Democrat Stuart Reid to preside as mayor over the 2002 Winter Games. Incumbent Dee Dee Corradini stepped down.

• ARIZONA: Voters in Tucson rejected a measure involving the use of Colorado River water for drinking purposes. Utility officials can blend river water with groundwater for use beginning in 2001.

• COLORADO: Voters approved a $2.3 billion bond issue for transportation, including widening congested Interstate 25 around Denver.

• KANSAS CITY, Mo.: Voters rejected a 15-year extension of sales tax, half of which was to be used to fund a light rail system.

• MAINE: Voters approved legalizing marijuana for some medicinal purposes, but rejected another measure that would bar a late-term abortion procedure.

• MIAMI: A charter amendment passed, eliminating the city manager's job and creating a strong-mayor form of government.

• MISSOULA, Mont.: College town rejected measure to force $8-an-hour minimum wage on employers that get city assistance.

• MISSISSIPPI: A constitutional amendment to limit legislators to two consecutive terms was defeated.

• OREGON: A measure that would have allowed murder convictions by 2an 11-1 jury vote instead of a unanimous one was rejected.

• SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Three wealthy communities, San Ramon, Pleasanton and Livermore, rejected slow-growth measures considered among the most restrictive in the nation. Two required that city voters approve new projects as small as 10 homes.

• SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.: Voters agreed to let developers of new arena for the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes recover ales taxes from arena for five years.

• ST. PAUL, Minn.: Voters rejected a proposal to increase sales tax to help fund new baseball stadium for Minnesota Twins.

• WASHINGTON: A sweeping measure to slash the car tax and give voters veto power over all future taxes and fees was approved; voters rejected a ban on most commercial fishing nets.