1975 San Francisco mayoral election explained

Election Name:1975 San Francisco mayoral election
Country:San Francisco
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1971 San Francisco mayoral election
Previous Year:1971
Next Election:1979 San Francisco mayoral election
Next Year:1979
Election Date:November 4, 1975
December 9, 1975
1Blank:First-round vote
2Blank:First-round percentage
3Blank:Second-round vote
4Blank:Second-round percentage
Image1:File:George Moscone, 1975.jpg
Candidate1:George Moscone
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
1Data1:66,195
2Data1:31.52%
3Data1:101,528
4Data1:51.09%
Candidate2:John J. Barbagelata
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
1Data2:40,540
2Data2:19.31%
3Data2:97,213
4Data2:48.91%
Candidate3:Dianne Feinstein
Party3:Democratic Party (United States)
1Data3:39,344
2Data3:18.74%
Candidate4:John A. Ertola
Party4:Nonpartisan candidate
1Data4:30,360
2Data4:14.46%
Image5:Milton Marks, 1975.jpg
Candidate5:Milton Marks
Party5:Republican Party (United States)
1Data5:27,910
2Data5:13.29%
Mayor
Before Election:Joseph Alioto
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:George Moscone
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)

The 1975 mayoral election was held to select the 37th mayor of San Francisco, and was held in two parts. In the November regular election, then-Speaker of the California State Assembly George Moscone placed first with conservative city supervisor John Barbagelata second and moderate supervisor Dianne Feinstein coming in third.[1] Moscone and Barbagelata thus both advanced to the mandated runoff election in December where Moscone narrowly defeated the conservative supervisor by 4,400 votes, a margin of less than 1%.[1]

For the rest of his life, Barbagelata maintained that the People's Temple religious cult, led by Jim Jones, committed election fraud by bussing in out-of-town church members to double and triple vote for Moscone under the registrations of dead voters.[2]

Proposition B

With Moscone in office there was a move to redefine how the city's governing Board of Supervisors should be selected as well as paid.[3] Neighborhood activists at that time sought to reduce the influence of downtown businesses and thus the method for selecting supervisors. Their aim was to create a new system of neighborhood-based supervisors. Many of the existing supervisors did not even live in the city itself. The activists founded the SFDE (San Franciscans for District Elections) and managed to get placed the initiative - so-called Proposition T - on a local ballot in November 1976. The ballot was successful but a group of existing supervisors, including Barbagelata, then met to plan a repeal election. However, Barbagelata then took the repeal further by getting put forward a more radical ballot, Proposition B, which called for the recalling of the mayor [Moscone] and a number of other high elected officials in the city. The scheme was referred to as the "fire everybody petition". According to Chester Hartman, in his 1984 book City for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco, many viewed the measure as Barbagelata's attempt to get back at Moscone, who, he felt had "stolen" the 1975 mayoral election from him. In Moscone's own words: "There's only one goal in his [Barbagelata's] mind and that's to dump me. I just know that his plan has nothing to do with reform, and if John [Barbagelata] tries to sell that to anybody it's a loser." On August 2, 1977, Barbagelata's Proposition B lost 64% to 36%.

Results

Runoff

Notes and References

  1. Nolte, Carl, CITY HALL SLAYINGS: 25 Years Later, San Francisco Chronicle, November 26, 2003
  2. Cothran, George. Barbagelata's Return?, San Francisco Weekly, November 18, 1998.
  3. Chester Hartman, City for Sale. The Transformation of San Francisco. University of California Press, 1984, pp. 227-234.