San Francisco District 8 supervisor candidate Gary McCoy declared victory Tuesday night after early election results showed him taking a comfortable lead against his opponents.
“It’s the honor of my life to have been elected District 8 Supervisor,” McCoy said in a statement. “I’m deeply grateful to all of the community members and neighbors who supported my campaign, and I’m thrilled to be able to represent this historic, beautiful district on the Board of Supervisors.”
District 8 includes neighborhoods like the Castro, Noe Valley and Glen Park. The seat is up for grabs since the current representative, Board President Rafael Mandelman, is termed out.
McCoy was going against candidates Darshini Patel and Michael Nguyen. Manny Yekutiel, the owner of a cafe and political event space in the city, was originally in the running but dropped out last month amid growing allegations of sexual assault, which he denied.
Early results, including most vote-by-mail ballots received before Election Day and some ballots from polling places, showed McCoy receiving about 50.5% of first-choice votes in the ranked-choice voting process, which allows voters to rank candidates based on preference.
McCoy is an outspoken advocate for health care and LGBTQ+ rights and has lived in District 8 for nearly 20 years.
He has worked as the campaign manager for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s “Save Our Health Care” campaign that aims to fight back against federal cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. He has also served as a legislative aide for Scott Wiener and London Breed when they were on the Board of Supervisors.
“Having the trust of the voters means the world to me. I’m ready to hit the ground running on day one to fight for a more affordable city — more housing, fully funded transit that works, and safe streets for all.”
