Outsider Daniel Lurie beats incumbent London Breed in San Francisco mayoral race
WASHINGTON – San Francisco Mayor London Breed conceded her election loss on Thursday to Daniel Lurie, a more moderate challenger, after a contentious campaign that centered heavily on moving the city past its post-pandemic woes.
Lurie held a strong lead through all 14 rounds of ranked choice voting and ultimately beat Breed, the city's first Black woman mayor, by a more than 10-point margin, 56% to 43%.
An heir to the Levis Straus fortune and founder of the anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point Community, Lurie portrayed himself as a more common-sense candidate intent on bringing accountability to the city's scandal-ridden government.
Breed guided San Francisco through a tumultuous period, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut-down the city's once-bustling downtown corridor. The tech workers who had filled its high-rises began working from home – nearly eliminating the flow of traffic into restaurants and retail shops that depended on the steady work-week business.
Property crime and drug overdose deaths increased during Breed's tenure. Multiple city departments faced corruption scandals . Republican politicians from Ron DeSantis to President-elect Donald Trump have used San Francisco as a byword for Democratic incompetence on crime and disorder.
Lurie capitalized on the discontent. He described his top priority as enhancing public safety and ending the "perception that lawlessness is an acceptable part of life," in San Francisco. He promised to fully fund law enforcement, and make reforms to ensure that officers were patrolling communities they lived in.
"So many people love this city. And it's time for us to start making people feel like the city loves them back," Lurie, who has never held public office, said in a victory speech Tuesday night.
His election marks the latest in a push, not only in San Francisco but across California, to more moderate candidates and tough-on-crime policies. In 2022, San Francisco voters removed the city's progressive district attorney who proposed massive criminal justice reforms, including eliminating cash bail and reducing the prison population.
This year, voters in Los Angeles and Oakland similarly voted against progressive prosecutors. Proposition 36, which would increase fines for theft and repeated drug use across the state, passed by large margins.
A Democrat, just like Breed, Lurie received the backing of Republican political groups in the heavily liberal-leaning California city. He received criticism for spending some $8 millions of his own money on his campaign. Breed, and other opponents, alleged during the campaign that Lurie was trying to buy his way into office with the self-funded effort.
But those concerns were swiftly put to rest after the ballots were counted and Lurie became the clear victor.
During a news conference announcing her concession, Breed told reporters that she would support Lurie's smooth transition into office to ensure his success,
"The campaign has to be behind us," she said. "We need to move forward as a city."
