San Franciscans are voting for mayor in an election crowded with a dozen candidates vying to lead the city.
Six years ago, incumbent London Breed became the first Black woman to serve as mayor of San Francisco in a special election to fill the position after the death of Mayor Ed Lee in late 2017.
She has faced a number of major challenges during her first term in office, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s ongoing issues with drug abuse and homelessness , rising housing costs and a spike in retail crime that some chains cited as the reason behind closing stores in San Francisco.
While Breed has touted progress in reducing the number of homeless encampments and pushed programs to fill vacant business spaces downtown , the mayor’s struggles have led to 11 other candidates entering the race to challenge her for the job.
Polls show that Breed’s two closest competitors for the office are former interim mayor Mark Farrell and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie , a city hall outsider who founded the anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point . Also in the running are two members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors: board president Aaron Peskin , the most left-leaning of the five main mayoral candidates with his longtime championing of tenant rights and fighting corruption at city hall, and one-time labor organizer Ahsha Safaí .