Daniel Lurie Leads as Early Results for San Francisco’s Mayoral Race Come In

This year’s mayoral race is one of the most expensive since the city adopted ranked choice voting in 2004, largely due to Lurie, who has raised more than any other mayoral candidate before him. A pro-Lurie PAC totaling nearly $10 million includes $8.7 million from his own fortune.

At her election party on Tuesday night, Breed criticized Lurie’s wealth advantage.

“San Francisco is not for sale,” she said, referring to Lurie’s record-breaking campaign fundraising. “It’s really unfortunate and pretty disgusting.”

The incumbent did not appear too swayed by Tuesday night’s early results. In 2018, Breed was similarly behind the leading candidate on the night of the election, she told supporters, “And you see me standing here right now as the mayor of San Francisco.”

Breed faced — and at times leaned into — “doom loop” narratives casting the city as stuck in perpetual economic and social crises during her tenure. But on the campaign trail, she became the cheerleader candidate, telling voters the city was finally on the upswing.

“We’re still hopeful,” Breed said Tuesday. “It’s going to take time to count all of these votes. There are a lot of votes in the mail. There are a lot of provisional ballots.”

This year’s mayoral race is one of the most expensive since the city adopted ranked choice voting in 2004, largely due to Lurie, who has raised more than any other mayoral candidate before him. A pro-Lurie PAC totaling nearly $10 million includes $8.7 million from his own fortune. Breed’s campaign has raised $3.1 million, including $1.45 million from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and $850,000 from Chris Larsen, a cryptocurrency investor.

Peskin’s campaign meanwhile surged in polling in the last leg of the race, but he trailed Breed and Lurie on Tuesday night. His campaign has fundraised a modest amount compared to both opponents, nabbing big donations from labor unions and a broad base of small, individual contributions totaling around $2.5 million.

Farrell has received nearly $1 million from conservative donor William Oberndorf and $500,000 from real estate investor Thomas Coates. Meanwhile, billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz, who penned an op-ed in the New York Times attacking Peskin in October, has contributed nearly $3.1 million to Proposition D, a measure that would cut the number of city commissions in half.

Farrell conceded the race at a watch party with supporters and his family.

“Obviously, early results are not what we want them to be in this mayoral race,” Farrell told supporters at Campus, a swanky Marina District bar. “Let’s make sure that as San Franciscans, whoever the next mayor is, we get behind him or her. It’s the right thing to do.”