He also campaigned heavily on fully staffing the police department and improving public safety, an issue voters expressed frustration over after a spike in retail theft and violent attacks during the pandemic, but which they have shown little satisfaction with even as crime rates have dropped significantly more recently.
His ability to make progress around homelessness, another top issue in this election, will also be under tight scrutiny. Lurie vowed to increase shelter bed options and enforce so-called sit-lie laws applying to people in public spaces now that the Supreme Court has ruled that cities can clear tent encampments even if there are no alternative places for them to go.
Breed expanded shelter capacity by nearly 70% during her tenure, and still, the city is far from meeting the number of beds and supportive housing needed for people to stay off the streets long-term.
Lurie will face all of these challenges as President-elect Donald Trump begins his second, non-consecutive term, which could have major implications for a deep-blue city like San Francisco.
The city had to fend off dozens of legal challenges from Trump’s first administration, according to City Attorney David Chiu, who is anticipating more battles ahead.
“Given Trump’s disdain for the rule of law and the plans laid out in Project 2025, we need to prepare ourselves once again,” Chiu told KQED. “I’m hopeful that whoever our next mayor is will understand the gravity of this moment and the threat to so many San Franciscans, given what Donald Trump has said throughout his political career.”
On Thursday, some of Lurie’s other opponents from the campaign trail lined up their support for the new mayor.
“Let’s make sure as San Franciscans that we get behind our next Mayor. It is the right thing to do,” former interim Mayor and Supervisor Mark Farrell wrote in a campaign email on Thursday.
After a rollercoaster campaign studded with allegations of campaign ethics violations, Farrell conceded that after early returns on Tuesday night showed he was behind Lurie, Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin.
“Let’s pledge ourselves to cheering for their success while holding them accountable to make sure that San Francisco reaches the potential that we know it can,” he said.
Peskin, who ran as the sole progressive in the race where all leading candidates were Democrats, was in third place after the update. He hasn’t officially conceded the race, he said, on principle to wait until every vote is counted, but he did call Lurie to give him preliminary congratulations.
“There are still over 40,000 (votes to be counted), but he is the likely winner and I let him know that I look forward to working with him,” Peskin told KQED. “My commitment to San Francisco and all of its communities is as enthusiastic as ever.”