It finally happened. After months of attack ads, a literal mountain of campaign cash, and enough mailers to bury a small Victorian, the san francisco mayor election results are etched in stone. Daniel Lurie, the guy who founded Tipping Point and happens to be an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, is our 46th mayor. He didn't just win; he managed to unseat London Breed, a political powerhouse who had navigated the city through a once-in-a-century pandemic and the most turbulent economic era since the dot-com bust.
Honestly, it feels like the end of an era and the start of something totally unproven.
You’ve probably seen the headlines, but the math behind how we got here is where things get interesting. San Francisco’s Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) is a beast. It’s not just about who gets the most first-place votes. It’s a game of survival. Breed actually held her own for a while, but as the rounds progressed, the "anyone but Breed" sentiment coalesced around Lurie. Basically, if you weren’t ranking Breed first, you probably weren't ranking her second or third either.
The Final Numbers That Flipped the City
The San Francisco Department of Elections certified the results on December 3, 2024. Turnout was massive—nearly 79%. That’s 412,231 ballots cast. People were fired up.
👉 See also: Takao Ozawa v. United States: Why the 1922 "White" Test Still Matters
In the first round, the field was crowded. Lurie took about 26.3% of the first-choice votes. Breed was right behind him at 24.4%. It was a nail-biter. But as candidates like Ahsha Safaí and Mark Farrell were eliminated, their votes didn't just vanish. They migrated.
By the time the RCV tally reached the 14th and final round, Lurie had surged to 55.02% (182,364 votes). Breed finished with 44.98% (149,113 votes). A gap of roughly 33,000 votes might not seem huge in a national context, but in the Seven-by-Seven, that's a decisive mandate for change.
Why London Breed Couldn't Hold On
Look, Breed’s story is incredible. She grew up in public housing in the Western Addition and rose to become the first Black woman to lead the city. But the "incumbency curse" hit her hard. The narrative of "doom loops," open-air drug markets, and the glacial pace of downtown recovery became a weight she couldn't shake.
Even though crime stats actually started looking better toward the end of her term, the vibe was off. People felt unsafe. They felt like the city was too expensive and too broken. Fair or not, the mayor becomes the face of every dirty sidewalk and every shuttered retail store.
The Lurie Strategy: "Accountability" as a Brand
Daniel Lurie ran a campaign that was sorta brilliant in its simplicity. He positioned himself as the outsider who wasn't part of the "City Hall machine." He spent millions—a record-breaking amount, really—to make sure every voter knew his face and his message: accountability.
📖 Related: What Really Happened With Austin Theriault: Did He Actually Win?
His platform isn't radically different from Breed’s in terms of policy—they're both moderate Democrats—but his approach is focused on management. He’s promised to:
- Hire 425 new police officers and 911 dispatchers.
- Streamline the permitting process for housing (the "online tracker" he launched early in 2025 is already live).
- Review every single nonprofit contract to make sure taxpayer money isn't just disappearing into a black hole.
Critics called him a "nepo baby" with no experience. Supporters called him the "adult in the room." In the end, the "outsider" label was his strongest asset. San Franciscans were tired of the same names and the same political squabbles between the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor’s office.
What Most People Get Wrong About This Election
One of the biggest misconceptions is that this was a "red wave" or a conservative takeover. It wasn't. This is still San Francisco. Lurie is a lifelong Democrat. But what we saw was a shift toward practicality.
Voters weren't looking for a revolution; they were looking for a plumber. Someone to fix the pipes.
The supervisor races also told a story of a city moving toward the middle. In District 5, Bilal Mahmood ousted the very progressive Dean Preston. In District 1, Connie Chan barely hung on. The message across the board was clear: results matter more than rhetoric.
👉 See also: Saudi Arabia News Today: The Massive Changes No One Is Talking About
The Proposition Picture
It wasn't just about the mayor. The ballot propositions gave us a map of the city's soul.
- Prop K passed: The Upper Great Highway is officially becoming a park.
- Prop M passed: Business tax reform is happening to try and keep companies from fleeing to the Peninsula.
- Prop D failed: A rare loss for the moderates, as voters weren't quite ready to slash the number of city commissions so drastically.
Is the "Doom Loop" Finally Over?
Since Lurie took office on January 8, 2025, the honeymoon phase has been intense. He’s been everywhere—flag raisings, neighborhood walks, pressers about fentanyl busts. But the honeymoon won't last forever.
The reality is that San Francisco faces a massive budget deficit. The commercial real estate market is still in a tailspin. Lurie’s big "Rebuilding the Ranks" initiative for the SFPD sounds great, but finding 400 people who want to be cops in SF isn't exactly easy.
He’s also leaning hard into the "affordability agenda." His recent proposal for free childcare for families making under $250,000 is a massive swing. It’s the kind of big, flashy policy that could make SF a place where middle-class families actually stay, rather than fleeing to Walnut Creek the second they have a kid.
Actionable Insights for Residents
If you're living in the city or thinking about moving back, here’s what you need to keep an eye on:
- Watch the Permitting Tracker: If you’re a small business owner or trying to renovate, Lurie’s new online system is the litmus test for whether he can actually cut the red tape.
- Neighborhood Safety Pilots: Keep an eye on the increased foot patrols. If response times for 911 calls don't drop by the end of 2026, his main campaign promise starts to look shaky.
- Nonprofit Scrutiny: The city spends billions on homelessness via third-party providers. There's a new "transparency dashboard" coming. Check it. See where your tax dollars are actually going.
- Housing Conversions: The legislation to turn empty offices into apartments is the "make or break" for downtown. If those cranes aren't moving by next year, the "doom loop" narrative will come crawling back.
The san francisco mayor election results weren't just a change in leadership; they were a change in expectations. We stopped voting for "firsts" and started voting for "fixes." Whether Lurie can deliver on that Levi-sized promise is the only question that matters now.
For more updates on local governance and city projects, you should regularly check the San Francisco Department of Elections website and the Mayor’s official transparency portal. These tools provide the raw data needed to hold our new leadership to the standards they set on the campaign trail.