Charles Lewis just called, to pass on the news that Jeff Bissonnette has conceded.

“He was very gracious and very nice, and I told him I was hoping to meet with him and talk about his sustainability platform and hope to continue some of those ideas in the general election as well,” says Lewis. Is Lewis taking a break before continuing his campaign? Nope.

“We’re off and running, we’re calling people, I’m going to go knock on a few doors this afternoon. I’m excited, I’m energized, it’s where we’re hoping we would be,” he says. “Now it’s working on continuing to get our name out. We’ve got five months, and we made considerable strides—it was a packed field.”

I asked Lewis about his platform, which always struck me as similar to Amanda Fritz’—who he’ll be going to head to head with in November. Lewis agreed that they both talked about basic services around the city, and prioritizing those over “pet projects” (Lewis liked to point toward pricey condos in the South Waterfront as an example). But Lewis points out that he was the first to jump into the race, and hit the ground with that platform.

“She definitely tried absorbing some of those, that messaging, basic services and potholes. It’s something we had been doing since the very beginning,” he says. “The big thing is going to be, going along with our slogan actions speak louder than words. What has she actually done?” Lewis points to the work he’s done at Ethos, where he’s got staff and a budget. “She hasn’t run an organization… I think that will be a really critical difference.”

Though he’s already pointing out the differences between himself and Fritz, Lewis says “we’re going to have a real positive race.”

As for Bissonnette, he confirms that he’s conceded after doing the math and coming up with similar numbers to the ones I crunched.

It came down to “a few hundred votes and half a percentage point or less, but this isn’t horseshoes or hand grenades—close isn’t enough,” says Bissonnette.

What’s next for him? “I’m going back to work for CUB, and going to continue doing the organizing and advocacy. That was my worst case scenario when I decided to run, and I decided that wasn’t a bad place to be,” he says. Will he run again?

“Being an elected official isn’t necessarily on my life goals or list of things to do, but if an opportunity presents itself and makes sense, there’s always the possibility.”