SEATTLE — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee started making plans for a transition team for his administration Wednesday, even as Republican rival Rob McKenna insisted the election wasn’t over and predicted he’d ultimately prevail.

Inslee led McKenna by about 51 to 49 percent Wednesday night, a lead of nearly 49,000 votes.

McKenna saw an uptick in his percentage of the more than 216,000 votes counted Wednesday, including 50,000 in King County.

But barring a big turnaround, it appears he will fall short of breaking the Republican Party’s 32-year losing streak in gubernatorial elections.

McKenna would need to capture 52 percent of the more than 1 million ballots remaining as of Wednesday night, a Seattle Times analysis found. McKenna is currently getting 48.8 percent of the vote.