By Judith Langowski

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Democratic moderate candidate Daniel Lurie, a philanthropist and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, was elected mayor of San Francisco, local media projected on Thursday as the incumbent Mayor London Breed conceded.

Voters desperate to improve public safety and revive the economy chose a candidate with no experience in City Hall. Wealthy San Francisco, the tech center, is struggling to solve problems including homelessness, a fentanyl epidemic and an empty downtown.

Tackling the city’s problems as an outsider was one of Lurie’s main selling points to voters, who opted for a change from experienced politicians, like Breed. 

The San Francisco Chronicle and local news station KQED called Lurie the winner among 13 candidates of the city’s ranked-choice mayoral election, making the call before the final count. His main opponent, London Breed, said in a social media post on Thursday afternoon that she had called Lurie to congratulate him on his victory.

Amidst the city’s slow economic recovery post-pandemic, Lurie’s election solidified a political turn toward moderate-centrist politics fueled by wealthy donors, many of them tech founders or venture capitalists. Lurie spent more than $8 million of his own money on the campaign, far more than his opponents. He beat and will replace Breed, the city’s first Black female mayor, who has led the city since 2018.  

San Francisco is dominated by Democrats, and so the choice was effectively between moderates and progressives, with voters focusing on pragmatic centrists. 

The Northern California city has come to represent the challenges faced by many large U.S. cities that have struggled with an uneven economic recovery and rising cost of living since the COVID-19 pandemic. Standout issues across all candidates’ campaigns were housing and crime, even with crime down 32%.

San Francisco has the highest median household income among major U.S. cities, but homelessness remains intractable. Since a June Supreme Court ruling, Breed’s administration has been actively sweeping homeless encampments.

Her critics pointed out that sweeps are temporary fixes, and the city has not done enough to offer shelter to its unhoused population.

In an interview with Reuters, Lurie said sweeps were a tool for the city to combat homelessness and promised to stand up 1,500 emergency shelter beds in his first six months in office.

(Reporting by Judith Langowski; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Peter Henderson)

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