San Francisco Mayor London Breed conceded to challenger Daniel Lurie on Thursday and said she called to congratulate the Levi Strauss heir.
Breed, the city’s first Black woman mayor, said on social media that she planned a smooth transition for her successor.
“Being Mayor of San Francisco has been the greatest honor of my lifetime. I’m beyond grateful to our residents for the opportunity to serve the City that raised me,” Breed said on X.
Unofficial results in the 14th round of ranked choice voting released Thursday showed Lurie with 27.85% of first-choice votes and Breed with 24.54%.
Lurie was the only top candidate from outside San Francisco politics, never holding a position in local government.
“We knew this would not be easy,” Lurie said in a speech at his election party Tuesday night. “The last time someone from outside of city government became the mayor of San Francisco was 1911. It was five years after the earthquake and it was an inflection point. And here we are, more than a century later and our city finds itself at another inflection point.”
The race was crowded with candidates vying to unseat incumbent Breed. Besides Breed and Lurie, the top contenders were former supervisor and former interim mayor Mark Farrell, District 5 Supervisor and Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin, and District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safai.
Lurie earlier Thursday released a statement and plans for an announcement Friday morning.
“I’m deeply grateful to my incredible family, campaign team and every San Franciscan who voted for accountability, service, and change. 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,” Lurie said in the statement.