2019 San Francisco mayoral election

2019 San Francisco mayoral election

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Turnout	41.64% ( 10.97 pp)
Candidate London Breed Ellen Lee Zhou Joel Ventresca Popular vote 126,221 25,006 13,283 Percentage 70.3% 13.9% 7.40%
County supervisorial district results Breed:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Mayor before election London Breed Elected mayor London Breed

The election for mayor of the City and County of San Francisco was held on November 5, 2019. Incumbent mayor London Breed, who had previously been elected in a special election to fill the unexpired term of the late Mayor Ed Lee, was reelected to a first full term in office. All local elections in California are nonpartisan.

Background

London Breed was elected Mayor of San Francisco in a 2018 special election to serve until 2020, filling the unexpired term of Ed Lee, who was elected in 2011 and 2015, and died in office on December 12, 2017. Breed stood for election to a first full term in office in 2019. ^{[1] [2]}

Candidates

The filing deadline was 5 p.m. on June 11, 2019. ^[3] Among the candidates who qualified, only the incumbent mayor Breed had a traditional political background. ^[2]

Qualified

• Ellen Lee Zhou, social worker and candidate for mayor in 2018 ^{[4] [5]}
• Joel Ventresca, retired San Francisco International Airport administrative analyst and perennial candidate in the 1990s ^[2]
• London Breed, incumbent mayor of San Francisco ^{[6] [1]}
• Paul Ybarra Robertson ^[2]
• Robert Jordan, street minister and San Francisco Board of Supervisors candidate from District 6 in 2006 ^[2]
• Wilma Pang, professional singer/music educator and perennial candidate ^[2]

Declined

• Mark Farrell, 44th Mayor of San Francisco, former Supervisor from District 2 ^{[7] [8]}
• Mark Leno, former State Senator, former State Assemblyman, former San Francisco Supervisor representing District 8; candidate for mayor in 2018 special election ^{[9] [10]}

Campaign

Ellen Lee Zhou was the conservative candidate in the race, running a campaign with pro-Donald Trump and pro-gun messaging. ^[11] Her campaign also criticized the city government's handling of homelessness. ^[11] Shortly before the election, she erected a billboard on Dore Street featuring a caricature of Breed that many San Francisco politicians described as racist. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

Joel Ventresca was endorsed by the San Francisco Green Party. ^[14]

Results

The election used instant-runoff voting, 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 in 1975.

2019 San Francisco mayoral election ^[15]

Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round	Maximum votes First round votesTransfer votes
London Breed (incumbent)	1	126,221	70.28%	​​
Ellen Lee Zhou	1	25,006	13.92%	​​
Joel Ventresca	1	13,283	7.40%	​​
Paul Ybarra Robertson	1	7,649	4.26%	​​
Wilma Pang	1	4,963	2.76%	​​
Robert L. Jordan, Jr.	1	2,458	1.37%	​​
Marc Roth (write-in candidate)	1	7	0.00%	​​

2019 San Francisco mayoral election
First Round Ballot Summary

	Count	Share of Contest Ballots
Continuing Votes	179,587	87.13%
Over Votes	603	0.29%
Under Votes	25,927	12.58%
Contest Ballots	206,117	100.00%
Registered Voters	495,050
Contest Turnout	41.64%

Future

In November 2022, San Francisco voters approved Proposition H, moving all future citywide elections to years that are multiples of four (thereby coinciding with presidential elections), beginning with 2024, and extending for one year the terms of incumbent citywide officeholders, including Breed. ^[16] As a result, the mayoral term resulting from the 2019 election will now expire in January 2025 instead of January 2024 as originally planned. ^[16]

References

1. Fracassa, Dominic (July 11, 2018). "London Breed has short term as SF mayor to prove herself for re-election". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
2. Fracassa, Dominic (June 12, 2019). "It's official: Six challengers aim to unseat SF Mayor London Breed in November - SFChronicle.com". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
3. "Calendar for the November 5, 2019, Municipal Election". City and County of San Francisco Department of Elections. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
4. "Ellen Zhou 2018 Mayoral Candidate San Francisco Interview: January 28, 2019". February 20, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
5. "Ellen Lee Zhou for Mayor 2019". ellenformayor2019.com. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
6. "London Breed poised to become SF's next mayor". ABC7 News. June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
7. Lucas, Scott (June 14, 2018). "Mark Farrell Made the Most of His Whirlwind Tenure as Mayor. Is He Eyeing a 2019 Run?". San Francisco . Retrieved June 15, 2018.
8. Matier, Phil; Ross, Andy (July 8, 2018). "Farrell calls for Breed to have clear field in next year's mayor race". SF Chronicle. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
9. Eskenazi, Joe; Mark, Julian (June 13, 2018). "London Breed will be your next mayor, as Mark Leno concedes". Mission Local. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
10. Bajko, Matthew (September 19, 2018). "Leno rules out 2019 mayoral run". The Bay Area Reporter. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
11. Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (October 21, 2019). "Conservative mayoral candidate defends controversial billboard: 'this is beautiful art'". www.sfexaminer.com. The San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on October 22, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
12. Chan, Connie (October 26, 2019). "Who is backing Ellen Lee Zhou?". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
13. Borba, Andria (October 20, 2019). "San Francisco Officials Denounce 'Racist' Depiction Of Mayor Breed On Campaign Billboard" . Retrieved August 9, 2021.
14. "San Francisco Green Party - November 2019 Endorsements". sfgreenparty.org. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
15. "November 5, 2019 Election Results - Detailed Reports - Department of Elections". sfelections.sfgov.org.
16. Moench, Mallory (November 9, 2022). "S.F. Mayor Breed gets an extra year in office due to election year change. Why isn't she a fan of it?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 3, 2023.