The Associated Press called the race for Bill Ferguson shortly after midnight.

Aside from the Bernstein-Jessamy matchup, Ferguson’s feisty challenge to the veteran legislator George Della has been considered the one to watch.

The contest pitted an idealistic 26-year-old lawyer and former Teach for America volunteer against a 67-year-old product of the old Stonewall Democratic club who often ran unopposed  fixture during the 27 years he’s beeen in office. Not surprisingly, the generation gap made for some stark differences in campaign style, with Ferguson rallying his troops with social networks and Internet ads and Della pressing the flesh, old school.

Observers portrayed the match-up as a paradigm for fast-gentrifying waterfront Baltimore, with Ferguson’s popularity reflecting the rise of a younger, more affluent crowd coming into a district that stretches from Canton to Curtis Bay.

Della, approached earlier in the day while campaigning outside a polling place, seemed to see it coming.

Asked  how he felt about his prospects — in the face of all the buzz around Ferguson — the youngster’s endorsement by The Baltimore  Sun and by the kind of politicians who would normally support an incumbent (city councilmembers William Cole and Ed Reisinger) — Della sighed deeply.

He told a long story about how his doctor warned him last spring that his cholesterol levels were too high and he needed to lower them and if he wanted to skip the drugs he could just exercise.

“I can’t wait to get into my doctor’s office to see what my cholesterol levels are,” he said. “I think those will be some good numbers.”