🏆 And the winners of the Rhode Map contest are...

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Just like the Democratic primary for governor, the results of the Rhode Map Primary Pick ‘Em contest were incredibly close.

In fact, the winner was settled by a tiebreaker.

Out of more than 500 entries (including, inexplicably, a reader who printed out his picks and mailed them to me, anonymously), there were two people who correctly guessed 45 out of 51 races.

The winners: Gina Catalano and Alex Lucini.

Catalano gets first place because she guessed that the turnout in the Democratic primary for governor would be 115,000, and the actual turnout was around 110,000. Lucini, with an abiding faith in democracy, guessed 128,000.

Catalano wins a $100 gift certificate to Frog and Toad, and Lucini is getting a $50 gift certificate to Sandwich Hut. Both will receive Rhode Map tote bags, although a supply chain snafu has these on back order (I blame Gina Raimondo).

There was a six-way tie for third place, picking 44 winners out of 51 races, including yours truly, Ian Donnis, Sam Howard, Michael Napolitano, Nicholas Melo, and Billy Walsh. Donnis’ turnout guess of 11 was either a typo or a brilliant “Price is Right”-style plan in hopes that everyone else predicted a turnout larger than the actual 110,000.

All of these third-place finishers will also receive a Rhode Map tote bag.

A few fun facts from the contest:

⚓ The average reader correctly predicted 32 out of 51 races.

⚓ The race most readers got wrong was House District 9 in Providence, where only 125 people correctly predicted that Enrique Sanchez would defeat longtime state Representative Anastasia Williams.

⚓ In the Democratic primary for governor, 37.2 percent of readers correctly picked Governor Dan McKee to win. More than 40 percent thought Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea would prevail, while 18 percent picked Helena Foulkes.

⚓ Surprisingly, there were only two races where more than 90 percent of readers correctly picked the winner: the Democratic primary for the 2nd District (Treasurer Seth Magaziner) and the Republican primary in House District 15 in Cranston (Representative Barbara Ann Fenton Fung).

If you are wondering, we will definitely do a general election contest. Details will be shared in the coming weeks.

This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, data about the coronavirus in the state, and more. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.