An election for mayor of the City and County of San Francisco was held on November 5, 2019. Incumbent Mayor

London Breed London Nicole Breed (born August 11, 1974) is an American politician who is the 45th and current mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Board ...

, who had previously been elected in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

to fill the unexpired term of the late Mayor

Ed Lee Edwin Mah Lee (Chinese: 李孟賢; May 5, 1952 – December 12, 2017) was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death. He was the first Asian American to hold the office. Born in ...

, was reelected to a first full term in office. All local elections in California are

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

Background

was elected Mayor of San Francisco in a 2018 special election to serve until 2020, filling the unexpired term of

, who was elected in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, and died in office on December 12, 2017. Breed stood for election to a first full term in office in 2019.

Candidates

The filing deadline was 5 p.m. on June 11, 2019. Among the candidates who qualified, only the incumbent Mayor Breed had a traditional political background.

Qualified

*Ellen Lee Zhou, social worker and candidate for mayor in 2018 *Joel Ventresca, retired San Francisco International Airport administrative analyst and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

in the 1990s *

, incumbent Mayor of San Francisco *Paul Ybarra Robertson *Robert Jordan, street minister and San Francisco Board of Supervisors candidate from

District 6 District Six is a place in Cape Town, South Africa. District Six may also refer to: :Government divisions * District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam * District 6 (New York City Council), in the United States * VI District, Turku, in Finland * Distri ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

*Wilma Pang, professional singer/music educator and

Declined

* Mark Farrell, 44th Mayor of San Francisco, former Supervisor from

District 2 District 2 may refer to: Places by country *II District, Turku, in Finland * District 2, Düsseldorf, Germany *District 2, Grand Bassa County, a district in Liberia *District 2, an electoral district of Malta *District 2, a police district of Mal ...

Mark Leno Mark Leno (born September 24, 1951) is an American politician who served in the California State Senate until November 2016. A Democrat, he represented the 11th Senate district, which includes San Francisco and portions of San Mateo County. Bef ...

, former State Senator, former State Assemblyman, former San Francisco Supervisor representing

District 8 District 8 can refer to: *District 8 Jakarta, in Indonesia *District 8 (Ho Chi Minh City), in Vietnam * VIII District, Turku, in Finland * VIII District, Budapest, in Hungary *Riesbach, also known as District 8, in Zürich, Switzerland * District ...

; candidate for Mayor in 2018 special election

Campaign

Ellen Lee Zhou was the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

candidate in the race, running a campaign with pro-

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

and pro-

NRA The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while conti ...

messaging. Her campaign also criticized the city government's handling of

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

. Shortly before the election, she erected a billboard on Dore Street featuring a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

of Breed that many San Francisco politicians described as

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

. Joel Ventresca was endorsed by the San Francisco Green Party.

Results

The election used

instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...

, also known as ranked-choice voting. However, Breed was reelected with a majority of the vote in the first round, and no transferring of votes was required. Although California municipal elections are nonpartisan, Ellen Lee Zhou, the second-place finisher and a self-described Republican, had the best performance for a candidate of her party in a San Francisco mayoral race since

John Barbagelata John Barbagelata (March 29, 1919 – March 19, 1994) was a San Francisco City Supervisor and 1975 mayoral candidate, when he narrowly lost to George Moscone. He was also the owner of a local real estate firm. As of 2020, he was the last Repu ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

References

{{2019 United States elections Mayoral elections in San Francisco

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...