San
Francisco
mayoral
candidate
London
Breed
addresses
the
media at
a press
conference
Wednesday,
June 13,
2018 at
City
Hall in
San
Francisco,
Calif.
after
fellow
candidate
Mark
Leno
called
breed to
concede
to her.
(Photo:
Jessica
Christian
/ The
Chronicle)
San
Francisco
elects
first
African-American
woman as
mayor
By
JANIE
HAR
APNews.com
SAN
FRANCISCO
- San
Francisco
Supervisor
London
Breed
emerged
victorious
Wednesday
to
become
the
city’s
first
African-American
woman
mayor
after
narrowly
defeating
a rival
who was
seeking
to
become
the
first
openly
gay man
in the
position.
It
took
eight
days of
counting
after
Election
Day for
Breed to
build a
large
enough
lead to
claim
the
city’s
top job.
With
about
250,000
ballots
tallied,
she led
former
state
Sen.
Mark
Leno by
2,177
votes
with
only
about
6,700
left to
count.
Leno
called
Breed to
congratulate
her on
the
victory
and
later
she
appeared
briefly
before
reporters
and
cheering
supporters
on the
steps of
City
Hall.
She said
she was
humbled,
honored
and
looking
forward
to
serving
as
mayor.
In
particular,
she
relished
the
message
her
election
sends to
San
Francisco’s
youth,
especially
kids
like
herself
who grew
up poor.
“No
matter
where
you come
from, no
matter
what you
decide
to do in
life,
you can
do
anything
you want
to do,”
she
said.
“Never
let your
circumstances
determine
your
outcome
in
life.”
Breed,
who will
take
office
next
month,
is the
second
woman to
be
elected
mayor in
San
Francisco
history.
The
other
was U.S.
Sen.
Dianne
Feinstein.
Breed,
43,
vowed to
be mayor
for all
of San
Francisco,
a
message
she
repeated
throughout
her bid
to lead
a city
that is
economically
thriving
but
mired in
homelessness,
congestion
and
unaffordable
homes.
She has
vowed to
rid the
sidewalks
of
homeless
tent
camps
within a
year of
taking
office.
Turnout
exceeded
50
percent—
unusually
high for
recent
mayoral
elections
— in a
contest
that was
placed
on the
June 5
ballot
after
the
death of
Mayor Ed
Lee in
December.
Breed
will
fill the
rest of
Lee’s
term,
which
ends in
early
2020,
and will
need to
run in
November
2019 for
a full
four-year
term.
San
Francisco
has an
unusual
ranked
choice
voting
system
that
allows
voters
to pick
their
top
three
candidates
for
mayor.
During
the
complicated
counting
process
second-place
and
sometimes
third-place
choices
end up
being
tallied.
In
an
effort
to block
Breed
from
winning,
Leno and
Supervisor
Jane Kim
asked
their
supporters
to pick
the
other as
their
No.2,
saying
that
Breed
represented
the
status
quo that
had made
San
Francisco
so
inequitable.
All
three
are
Democrats.
But
Breed
still
prevailed,
riding
her
support
among
the
business
and
political
establishment
who
helped
her lead
the
field in
campaign
donations.
The
portrayals
of her
as a
lackey
of big
business
bugged
Breed,
who
first
won a
supervisor’s
seat in
2012.
“I
ask
people
to not
attribute
what
I’ve
done —my
success
and how
hard
I’ve
worked—
to not
reduce
that or
attribute
that to
someone
else,”
Breed
told the
AP in a
pre-election
interview.
The
former
executive
director
of the
African
American
Art &
Culture
Complex
grew up
in the
historically
black
Western
Addition
area,
raised
by her
grandmother
in
public
housing.
They
drank
powdered
milk and
ate meat
from a
can
labeled
“pork,”
she
said.
At
City
Hall,
she paid
homage
to her
late
grandmother
and said
she
probably
had a
hand in
her win.
“She
took
care of
the
community,
she took
care of
me even
on days
when I
didn’t
deserve
it, and
so being
here in
her
honor
means so
much,”
she
said.
Earlier
Wednesday,
Leno
told
reporters
crammed
into his
tiny
print
shop
that he
had a
positive
conversation
with
Breed
and that
“she is
going to
do a
very
fine
job. Her
success
is San
Francisco’s
success.”
Leno,
66, did
not rule
out a
future
run for
office
and
thanked
voters
for
exceeding
low
turnout
expectations.
“This
was a
campaign
about
change,
a
campaign
about
the
betterment
of the
great
city of
San
Francisco,”
he said.