San Francisco Mayor London Breed concedes, congratulates Daniel Lurie on victory

SAN FRANCISCO - In what appears to be a stunning upset, Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie – a man with no political experience – holds the lead in the San Francisco mayoral race after Tuesday’s election. The incumbent, London Breed, offered a concession through a phone call on Thursday, where she congratulated her opponent on his victory. 

Lurie held his strong lead with 56.20% of the vote, while Breed continued to trail at 43.80% in the 14th round of counting. 

Lurie beat out 14 other candidates, including Breed and former interim Mayor Mark Farrell, as well as supervisors Aaron Peskin and Ahsha Safai. 

Peskin, who held third place in the race, said in a statement that he called Lurie to wish him an early congratulations, but said out of respect for the voters, that he's never declared victory or conceded defeat until all the ballots were counted. 

San Francisco voters had the opportunity to rank 10 candidates. 

San Francisco's director of elections said 25,000 votes were counted on Thursday with 143,000 votes left to be counted. 

Lurie has never held public office, but he did gain the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board’s endorsement for his balance between "compassion and toughness." The Chronicle on Thursday called the race in Lurie's favor. The new mayor takes office in January. 

Lurie was the CEO of an anti-poverty nonprofit called Tipping Point. He founded the organization and served as CEO until 2019.

Lurie entered the race as a virtual unknown. He had previously told KTVU he's been campaigning hard for the last year and denied criticisms that he was trying to buy the election. "No, you can't buy an election in San Francisco. You've got to go out and earn every vote," he said. 

With homelessness, the high cost of housing and crime as the election's central issues, Lurie promised to secure 1,500 units of shelter for the homeless in his first six months. 

During his campaign, Lurie criticized City Hall insiders for not getting more housing built. 

He also ran on a public safety priority platform where he talked about fully funding and staffing the police and sheriff's department, while also addressing police overtime by focusing on hiring. Lurie said he doesn't want the police force acting as homeless outreach workers and mental health counselors. He would like to implement a co-responder model, he said. 

The city currently has a Homeless Outreach Team that provides outreach and case management seven days a week to those living on the streets. The Coalition on Homelessness called for the incoming administration to "treat unhoused people with dignity and to prioritize housing, not punitive measures." They said 700 supportive housing units currently sit empty and would like to see them filled in the first 60 days of a new administration.  

Lurie has talked about his ambitious goal of recruiting 425 officers in his first three years of office. 

In the Hayes Valley neighborhood, voters we spoke with said they ranked both Lurie and Breed with their votes. 

"It wasn't like there was one candidate that I was so excited about," said Emma Perpich, a San Francisco voter. "I'm happy and excited to see what he does."

Another voter said they wanted dirty and unsafe streets to be addressed. "It's been a problem for a very long time I believe," said a San Francisco voter who only gave the name, Nick. "I have no idea how he's going to fix that but fingers crossed that he's going to make a dent in it." 

Lurie's press team said the "mayor-elect" would be available on Friday to make an important announcement. 

"I'm deeply grateful to my incredible family, campaign team and every San Franciscan who voted for accountability, service and change. No matter who you supported in this election, we stand united in the fight for San Francisco's future and a safer and more affordable city for all," Lurie's statement read. 

Shortly after the second round of results was issued by the Department of Elections, Mayor Breed offered a concession in a post on social media. "Today, I called Daniel Lurie and congratulated him on his victory in this election. Over the coming weeks, my staff and I will work to ensure a smooth transition as he takes on the honor of serving as Mayor of San Francisco," Breed's message read. 

Breed said serving as mayor has been the greatest honor of her life. 

You can read her full message here: 

San Francisco State University political science professor Jason McDaniel observed a common sentiment among voters that may have held Breed responsible for post-pandemic economic conditions as well as perceptions of brazen crime and shoplifting in the city. McDaniel also said this was a "change year" and that Lurie, the candidate with no political history in San Francisco, represented a ‘change’ candidate since he had not held elected office before. He said Lurie ran a well-run, well-funded campaign that seemed to understand how ranked-choice voting works. 

Breed, a native San Franciscan, served on the Board of Supervisors prior to becoming mayor in 2017 when Mayor Ed Lee suddenly died while in office. She became the first African American female mayor of San Francisco. Early Thursday evening, she addressed reporters and took their questions. 

She focused on moving the city forward to ensure a smooth transition. Asked if this was the hardest speech she's had to make, she said, no. 

"You know, there's been other harder speeches," Breed said. "I had to make a hard decision to close this city down during the global pandemic. I had to deal with the uprising…the racial reckoning that happened after the tragic death of George Floyd. I had to go out in the middle of the night and tell people that Mayor Ed Lee had passed away." 

She went on to say that the mayor's office is bigger than one person. 

Breed was asked what the difference is between herself and Lurie. She pivoted to say that she's made a difference in the city in terms of her leadership. 

"I have focused and aggressively invested in things that traditionally would have never been supported in the city," said Breed. I have always tried to make sure I put San Francisco first." 

The mayor was asked about her prior critiques of Lurie's campaign spending and some $6 million in personal money that he used. At a previous debate, she touched on his inexperience, calling him, "one of the most dangerous people on the stage." 

She said she didn't want to look back at the campaign and that it was important and in the city's best interest to move forward. 

"We can't look backwards," said Breed. "The voters of San Francisco have made their decision and I, as mayor of San Francisco, have always respected the voters and honored the decisions that they made."

On her decision to concede, Breed said it appeared the ballots were going in a similar direction. "It doesn't seem as if there's a chance. Unless there's a miracle that happens, I don't see mathematically that anything will be different than other than what we saw." Breed said she waited to make a decision but also felt it was important not to make the people of San Francisco wait. 

Mayor Breed did not indicate what she plans to do after she leaves office. 

The mayor said she is proud of where the city stands, adding that San Francisco has one of its lowest crime rates in more than a decade. "We've built up the infrastructure to move San Francisco forward."

Breed said her advice to the next mayor is to "put San Franciscans first."

KTVU's Christien Kafton, Amber Lee and Greg Lee contributed to this report. 

 

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