San Francisco Mayor London Breed loses re-election bid to Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie

David Propper
New York Post
Sat, 09 Nov 2024 14:59 UTC

London Breed (L) lost the 2024 San Francisco mayor's race to Daniel Laurie (R)

Lefty city struggling with sky-high crime rates

San Francisco Mayor London Breed lost her re-election bid Thursday night to Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie following years in which the liberal city struggled with sky-high crime and deteriorating quality of life.

Breed, whose tenure began in 2017, said she called Lurie to concede the election two days after voters went to the polls in the rank-choice election.

"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," she said in a statement.

Breed argued the city made progress during her six years in office and she was "proud that we have truly accomplished so much" even as the California city has faced numerous problems.

An ongoing drug crisis has killed hundreds of people while crime, including relentless shoplifting and property crime, has diminished the quality of life for residents and frustrated businesses.Homeless encampments also became a familiar and heartbreaking sight under Breed.Lurie, who spent millions out of his own pocket, clinched about 56% of support in the rank-choice system while Breed was far behind with 44% when she conceded, according to preliminary results, Bloomberg reported.

Lurie, 47, warned that turning the city around "is not going to happen overnight."

He is an heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune through his mother, who married Peter Haas when he was a child. Haas was the past CEO of the clothing company started by his great-grandfather Daniel Strauss.

"No matter who wins this election, we have extremely difficult challenges ahead," he said, according to his campaign website.

Comment: Fortune reports:

Lurie's election underscores residents' dissatisfaction with the status quo in San Francisco, a longtime tech boomtown that's now struggling to recover economically from the pandemic. Lurie, one of three moderate Democrats who ran on the promise to clean up homelessness, open-air drug markets and combat retail theft and other crimes — set himself apart by framing his own narrative as a political outsider.

As one of the wealthiest people to ever run for mayor of the city, he thwarted attacks from opponents who labeled him as a "trust fund kid" for relying on his family's money to self-finance his campaign.

His background proved an asset. As founder of a poverty-fighting nonprofit, Lurie won over voters despite his lack of government experience and a public record on policy issues. He has vowed to tackle corruption, hire more police and build additional homeless shelters.

Good luck to Mr. Lurie. He's going to need it.