diff --git a/gerrit_util.py b/gerrit_util.py
index d1ef98957..b08f82a8a 100755
--- a/gerrit_util.py
+++ b/gerrit_util.py
@@ -347,7 +347,9 @@ def ReadHttpResponse(conn, accept_statuses=frozenset([200])):
       raise GerritAuthenticationError(response.status, reason)
 
     # If response.status < 500 then the result is final; break retry loop.
-    if response.status < 500:
+    # If the response is 404, it might be because of replication lag, so
+    # keep trying anyway.
+    if response.status < 500 and response.status != 404:
       LOGGER.debug('got response %d for %s %s', response.status,
                    conn.req_params['method'], conn.req_params['uri'])
       break