2018 San Francisco mayoral special election explained

Election Name:2018 San Francisco mayoral special election
Country:San Francisco
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2015 San Francisco mayoral election
Previous Year:2015
Next Election:2019 San Francisco mayoral election
Next Year:2019
1Blank:First round
2Blank:Maximum round
Image1:File:London Breed (1).jpg
Candidate1:London Breed
1Data1:92,121
36.70%
2Data1:115,977
50.55%
Candidate2:Mark Leno
1Data2:61,416
24.47%
2Data2:113,431
49.45%
Image4:File:SupervisorJaneKim (1).png
Candidate4:Jane Kim
1Data4:60,738
24.20%
2Data4:Eliminated
Image5:File:Angela Alioto 5-26-18 (1).jpg
Candidate5:Angela Alioto
1Data5:17,552
6.91%
2Data5:Eliminated
Map Size:250px
Mayor
Before Election:Mark Farrell
After Election:London Breed
Color1:c0c0c0
Color2:c0c0c0
Color4:c0c0c0
Color5:c0c0c0

A special election was held for Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco on June 5, 2018, to fill the remainder of the term of Ed Lee, who had died in office on December 12, 2017. Upon Lee's death, London Breed, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, became Acting Mayor of San Francisco, but a vote of six supervisors replaced Breed with Supervisor Mark Farrell. The mayoral election was held concurrently with the statewide direct primary election. In San Francisco, the election for the eighth district member of the board of supervisors was also on the ballot.

Eight candidates qualified to appear on the ballot and a ninth qualified as a write-in. The four major candidates were former Supervisor Angela Alioto, former Acting Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Jane Kim and former state senator Mark Leno.[1] All four main candidates identified as Democrats, though the position is officially nonpartisan per the Constitution of California.[2] [3] The election was won by Breed, with Leno conceding the election on June 13.[4] All local elections in California are nonpartisan.

Background

Ed Lee, who was appointed Mayor of San Francisco in 2011 following Gavin Newsom's election as Lieutenant Governor of California, elected to a full term in 2011, and reelected in 2015, died of cardiac arrest on December 12, 2017.[5] London Breed, the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, became the city's acting mayor.[6] [7]

On January 23, 2018, the board of supervisors selected Mark Farrell to serve as interim mayor until the special election could be held. Citing Ron Conway's role as a benefactor to Breed, Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Jane Kim, considered the progressive members of the board, sought to deny Breed the benefits of incumbency going into the election.[8] [9]

As San Francisco elections use ranked choice voting, Kim and Mark Leno chose to align with each other, each endorsing the other as their preferred second choice.[10]

Candidates

The filing deadline was 5 p.m. on January 9, 2018.[11]

Qualified

The following eight candidates qualified for the ballot by filing all nomination documents and paying the filing fee.[12] The deadline for a candidate to drop out of the race and remove himself or herself from the ballot was January 30, 2018.[13]

Declined

General election

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
RCV
Choice
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Angela
Alioto
London
Breed
Richie
Greenberg
Jane
Kim
Mark
Leno
OtherUndecided
Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates[25] April 20–23, 2018First600± 3.0%8% align=center28%6%17%21%
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research[26] March 28 – April 3, 2018First610± 4.0%6%27%17% align=center29%9%
Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates[27] February 22–28, 2018First462± 4.6%8% align=center29%26%19%
KPIX-TV/Survey USA[28] January 13–14, 2018First717± 4.3%9%19%13% align=center22%
SurveyUSA (with RCV)January 10–14, 2018First462± 4.6%9%19%4%14% align=center22%6%[29] align=center22%
Second385± 5.1%16%19%6%10% align=center25%7%[30] 16%
Third306± 5.7%13%12%9% align=center16%15%8%[31] align=center26%
Public Policy Polling[32] December 18–19, 2017First627± 4.0%20%5% align=center26%26%[33] 23%[34]

Results

First-place votes counted on election night had Breed leading with 35.6 percent, Leno in second with 25.9 percent, and Kim with 22.8 percent. As candidates began to be eliminated, Leno took the lead the next day.[35] He maintained a small lead during the week.[36] On June 9, Breed took the lead over Leno.[37] [38] On June 13, with only 8,000 ballots left to count,[39] Leno conceded defeat and congratulated Breed on her victory.[40]

Results summary

The following table shows a summary of the instant runoff for the election. The table shows the round in which the candidate was defeated or elected the winner, the votes for the candidate in that round, and what share those votes were of all votes counting for any candidate in that round. There is also a bar graph showing those votes for each candidate and categorized as either first-round votes or votes that were transferred from another candidate.

Vote counts by round

The following table shows how votes were counted in a series of rounds of instant runoffs. Each voter could mark which candidates were the voter's first, second, and third choice. Each voter had one vote, but could mark three choices for how that vote can be counted. In each round, the vote is counted for the most preferred candidate that has not yet been eliminated. Then one or more candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated. Votes that counted for an eliminated candidate are transferred to the voter's next most preferred candidate that has not yet been eliminated.

Candidate Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9
London Breed 92,121 92,121 92,124 92,243 92,442 93,605 96,392 102,767 115,977
Mark Leno 61,416 61,416 61,416 61,533 61,881 62,861 64,128 68,707 113,431
Jane Kim 60,738 60,738 60,738 60,829 61,422 61,843 63,261 66,043
Angela Alioto 17,552 17,552 17,552 17,737 17,92919,626 21,981
Ellen Lee Zhou 9,576 9,576 9,576 9,687 9,829 10,637
Richie Greenberg 7,051 7,051 7,051 7,128 7,242
Amy Farah Weiss 1,675 1,675 1,675 1,735
Michelle Bravo 900 900 900
Antoine R. Rogers (Write-in)3 3
0
Continuing votes 251,032 251,032 251,032 250,892 250,745 248,572 245,762 237,517224,009
Exhausted ballots 0 0 0 136 280 2,445 5,237 13,456 21,510
Over Votes 634 634 634 638 641 649 667 693 748
Under Votes 2,350 2,350 2,350 2,350 2,350 2,350 2,350 2,350 2,350
Total 254,016 254,016 254,016 254,016 254,016 254,016 254,016 254,016 254,016

Continuing votes are votes that counted for a candidate in that round. Exhausted ballots represent votes that could not be transferred because a less preferred candidate was not marked on the ballot. Voters were allowed to mark only three choices because of voting system limitations. Over votes are votes that could not be counted for a candidate because more than one candidate was marked for a choice that was ready to be counted. Under votes are ballots were left blank or that only marked a choice for a write-in candidate that had not qualified as a write-in candidate.

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2018/01/09/8-qualify-for-san-francisco-mayors-race-in-june 8 qualify for San Francisco mayor's race in June
  2. News: Fuller . Thomas . San Francisco's Homeless Crisis Tests Mayoral Candidates' Liberal Ideals . June 12, 2018 . New York Times . May 30, 2018 . en.
  3. Web site: No Party Preference Information California Secretary of State . California Secretary of State . June 12, 2018.
  4. News: Fracassa. Dominic . Mark Leno concedes SF mayor's race to London Breed. June 13, 2018. San Francisco Chronicle. June 13, 2018.
  5. News: Rachel . Swan . Evan . Sernoffsky . San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee dead at 65 . San Francisco Chronicle . December 12, 2017 . December 12, 2017 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171212114553/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/San-Francisco-Mayor-Ed-Lee-dead-at-65-12423708.php . December 12, 2017 . mdy-all .
  6. Web site: Bulwa. Demian. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee dead at 65. SFGate. December 12, 2017.
  7. News: Rules dictate how SF's next mayor may be chosen and how long they may serve. December 12, 2017. San Francisco Chronicle. December 12, 2017.
  8. News: Scott . Shafer . Political Uproar as Mark Farrell Replaces London Breed as S.F. Mayor . KQED . January 23, 2018 .
  9. News: Jason . Fagone . London Breed's sudden, short term as SF's acting mayor . San Francisco Chronicle . January 28, 2018 .
  10. Web site: Melendez . Lyanne . San Francisco mayoral candidates form alliance in odd turn . abc7news.com . May 10, 2018. June 13, 2018.
  11. Phil Matier and Andy Ross, Curtain rises on SF's next drama, and the star is London Breed, San Francisco Chronicle (December 17, 2017).
  12. http://sfgov.org/elections/candidates Potential Candidates List - June 5, 2018 Election
  13. Janie Har, San Francisco mayor's race draws big names, crowded field, Associated Press (January 9, 2018).
  14. Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Political veteran Angela Alioto pulls papers to run for SF mayor, San Francisco Examiner (December 18, 2017).
  15. http://www.ktvu.com/news/you-decide-one-on-one-with-the-san-francisco-mayoral-candidates
  16. Julie Littman,https://www.bisnow.com/san-francisco/news/economic-development/san-francisco-mayors-race-3-questions-with-candidate-michelle-bravo-88426,Bisnow(May 15, 2018).
  17. Dominic Fracassa and Rachel Swan, London Breed says she's in the race for SF mayor, San Francisco Chronicle (January 5, 2018).
  18. Dominic Fracassa, Supervisors Breed and Kim in race for SF mayor for real now; Herrera out (January 9, 2018).
  19. Ida Mojadad, Jane Kim Announces Run for Mayor, SF Weekly (December 20, 2017).
  20. Rachel Swan, Mark Leno first major candidate to enter 2018 mayor's race, San Francisco Chronicle (December 15, 2017).
  21. Rachel Swan, David Chiu and Carmen Chu both out of race for SF mayor, San Francisco Chronicle.
  22. Joshua Sabatini, Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu decides not to run for SF mayor, San Francisco Examiner (January 8, 2018).
  23. Joshua Sabatini, Supervisor Mark Farrell announces he will not run for SF mayor, San Francisco Examiner (December 21, 2017).
  24. Rachel Swan, SF City Attorney Dennis Herrera signals intention to run for mayor in June, San Francisco Chronicle (January 3, 2017).
  25. Web site: SF Mayor Farrell could get to stay in office for a few extra weeks. San Francisco Chronicle. May 6, 2018. May 6, 2018.
  26. Web site: Ranked-choice voting could come into play in SF mayor's race. San Francisco Chronicle. April 15, 2018. April 22, 2018.
  27. Web site: Jane Kim surging in SF mayor's race while Mark Leno fades, new poll shows. San Francisco Chronicle. March 11, 2018. March 11, 2018.
  28. Matier & Ross, Labor looking for a front-runner in SF mayor's race, San Francisco Chronicle (January 16, 2018).
  29. First: Michelle Bravo, Amy Farah Weiss, and Ellen Lee Zhou with 2%
  30. Second: Amy Farah Weiss 4%, Ellen Lee Zhou 2%, Michelle Bravo 1%
  31. Third: Amy Farah Weiss 4%, Michelle Bravo 3%, Ellen Lee Zhou 1%
  32. Web site: Matier. Phil. Ross. Andy. Leno, Breed top the field in first poll of SF mayoral election. San Francisco Chronicle. January 2, 2018. January 4, 2018.
  33. First: David Chiu* 11%, Dennis Herrera* 10%, Carmen Chu* 5%. *Hypothetical candidate.
  34. Other/Undecided 23%
  35. Web site: SF mayor's race: Ranked choice puts Mark Leno in lead over London Breed. San Francisco Chronicle.
  36. Web site: SF mayor's race: Mark Leno retains slight lead over London Breed — 144 votes. San Francisco Chronicle.
  37. Web site: As Breed regains slim lead, mayoral cliffhanger echoes Oakland's 2010 race. San Francisco Chronicle.
  38. Web site: June 5, 2018 Election Results - Detailed Reports. San Francisco Department of Elections.
  39. Web site: Melendez . Lyanne . Mark Leno concedes after close San Francisco mayor's race . abc7news.com . June 13, 2018.
  40. Web site: Sources: Mark Leno To Concede In San Francisco Mayor's Race « CBS San Francisco . Sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com . June 13, 2018. June 13, 2018.