San Francisco Mayor London Breed lost her bid for re-election to Levi Strauss successor Daniel Lurie on Thursday night after the liberal city struggled for years with high levels of crime and a deteriorating quality of life.
Mr. Breed, whose tenure began in 2017, said he called Mr. Lurie, a venture capitalist, to ask him to concede the election two days after voters went to the polls for the class-choice election.
“Becoming Mayor of San Francisco is the greatest honor of my life. I am extremely grateful to the residents for giving me the opportunity to serve the city that raised me.” she said in a statement.
Breed asserted that despite the numerous challenges California faces, the city has made progress during his six-year term, saying, “I'm proud of the fact that we've accomplished so much.” said.
The ongoing drug crisis has killed hundreds of people, and persistent shoplifting, property crimes and other crimes have reduced the quality of life for residents and frustrated businesses.
Homeless encampments also became a familiar and heartbreaking sight under Breed.
Preliminary results show that Mr. Lurie, who spent millions of dollars out of his own pocket, won about 56% support in the rank selection system, but Mr. Breed was far behind at 44% when he conceded. Bloomberg reported.
Lurie, 47, warned that changing the city's direction “is not going to happen overnight.”
He inherited the Levi Strauss & Company fortune through his mother, who married Peter Haas at an early age. Mr. Haas was the former CEO of a clothing company founded by his great-grandfather, Daniel Strauss.
“No matter who wins this election, we have very difficult challenges ahead of us,” he said, according to his campaign website.
