London Breed wins San Francisco mayor race, becoming city's first black female leader


London Breed, the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, will be the city's next mayor after eight days of ballot-counting all but eliminated rival candidate Mark Leno, who conceded the race Wednesday afternoon. As of Wednesday, Breed led Leno by 2,177 votes with only about 6,700 left to count. Breed, 43, will become San Francisco's first black female mayor and the city's second female mayor, after Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.); San Francisco will become the largest U.S. city currently led by a woman. Leno would have been San Francisco's first openly gay mayor. All three frontrunners were Democrats.
Breed briefly took over as mayor when Mayor Ed Lee (D) died of a heart attack in December, but a month later, her board colleagues gave the job instead to interim Mayor Mark Farrell. On Wednesday, Farrell offered his "sincere congratulations to Mayor-elect London Breed on her election victory." Breed, who was raised in San Francisco public housing by her grandmother, said "the message that this sends to the next generation of young people growing up in this city is that no matter where you come from, no matter what you decide to do in life, you can do anything you want to do."
Breed will serve out the remainder of Lee's term, until 2020, and face the voters again in 2019. You can learn more about Breed and her victory in the San Francisco Chronicle podcast below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
The best shows to see at Edinburgh Fringe 2025
The Week Recommends The world's biggest arts festival is back with an incredible line-up
-
Wonsan-Kalma: North Korea's new 'mammoth' beach resort
Under the Radar Pyongyang wants to boost tourism but there won't be many foreign visitors to Kim Jong Un's 'pet project'
-
The 5 best TV reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Finding an entirely new cast to play beloved characters is harder than it looks
-
AI scammer fakes Rubio messages to top officials
Speed Read The unknown individual mimicked Rubio in voice and text messages sent to multiple government officials
-
SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firings
speed read The Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled
-
New tariffs set on 14 trading partners
Speed Read A new slate of tariffs will begin August 1 on imports from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and more
-
Elon Musk launching 'America Party'
Speed Read The tech mogul promised to form a new political party if Trump's megabill passed Congress
-
Judge blocks Trump's asylum ban at US border
Speed Read The president violated federal law by shutting down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers, said the ruling
-
Thai court suspends prime minister over leaked call
Speed Read Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended, pending an ethics investigation
-
Senate passes GOP megabill after Alaska side deal
The pivotal yes vote came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whose support was secured following negotiated side deals for her home state Alaska
-
Trump sues LA over immigration policies
Speed Read He is suing over the city's sanctuary law, claiming it prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities