San Francisco Mayor London Breed loses reelection to Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco Mayor London Breed lost her reelection race to Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie.

The Associated Press called the race Tuesday.

In conceding the race to Lurie, Breed, 50, pledged a smooth transition for the incoming mayor.

“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 last week.

Breed’s victory six years ago as the city’s first Black female mayor — who grew up poor and in public housing — showed that no dream was impossible in the progressive, compassionate and equitable city.

She won election as mayor in June 2018 to serve out the remainder of Ed Lee’s term, who died suddenly while in office.

But the honeymoon was short-lived as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered stores and tech workers retreated to home offices. Tent encampments proliferated, as did public drug use, and her opponents said she did too little and too late.

Streets did become cleaner and homeless tents harder to find this year, but the daytime shooting in September of 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall in a popular central shopping district reignited a debate over public safety.

She was reelected in 2019 to a full term that has lasted five years instead of the typical four, after voters changed the election calendar to line up with presidential contests.

Janie Har, The Associated Press