Daniel Lurie Clinches Victory to Become SF’s Next Mayor, Unseating London Breed

Daniel Lurie, a philanthropist and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who campaigned against City Hall “insiders,” will be San Francisco’s next mayor.

Mayor London Breed conceded the race on Thursday afternoon as Lurie maintained his solid lead in the latest update from San Francisco elections officials.

“At the end of the day, this job is bigger than any one person, and what matters is that we keep moving this City forward. Today, I called Daniel Lurie and congratulated him on his victory in this election,” Breed said in her concession statement. “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. I know we are both committed to improving this City we love.”

Early voting returns showed Lurie leading in first-choice votes above Breed. In the latest tally announced Thursday, accounting for fourteen rounds of ranked choice vote counting, Lurie held his lead with 56% of votes compared with Breed’s 43% share.

Thursday’s update included 250,000 votes counted, with Lurie taking 69,005 first-place votes to Breed’s 60,818.

The results show Lurie successfully harnessed voters’ frustration with local government on the campaign trail, promising to rid City Hall of corrupt insiders.

“I’m deeply grateful to my incredible family, campaign team and every San Franciscan who voted for accountability, service, and change,” Lurie said in a statement. “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.”

Now, as the city’s top insider, he’ll have to show voters what a different approach could look like.

“Hope is alive and well in San Francisco,” Lurie said to his supporters at an election night party on Tuesday. “But hope alone is not enough. Strong values are not enough. They have to be drivers of actions and results. Our challenge and opportunity is to show how the government can deliver on its promise of a safer and more affordable city.”

Running the city of San Francisco would be Lurie’s first job in government — a fact that his opponents repeatedly attacked him for in debates and public forums. Breed described his lack of experience as “dangerous.”

As mayor, Lurie will have to put his promises to the test. That includes overseeing the city’s projected budget shortfall of $799 million over the next two years and pulling the city out of an economic slump. He vowed to speed up the production of affordable housing — a longstanding challenge in San Francisco, which is one of the most expensive California cities to build in.

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.

Following a rollercoaster campaign studded with allegations of campaign ethics violations, Farrell conceded 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.”