Levi Strauss & Co. Heir Daniel Lurie is set to become mayor of San Francisco after spending more than $8 million of his own money to position himself as a political outsider who could best tackle the city’s homelessness, drug and crime problems.
Incumbent London Breed conceded the election Thursday. Preliminary returns showed Lurie had won about 56% of support under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, compared with her 44%. The race had narrowed to the two after other major candidates were eliminated.
“Today, I called Daniel Lurie and congratulated him on his victory in this election,” Breed said in a statement. “Over the coming weeks, my staff and I will work to ensure a smooth transition as he takes on the honor of serving as Mayor of San Francisco. I know we are both committed to improving this city we love.”
Thousands of ballots still need to be counted, and San Francisco officials have yet to call the race. The San Francisco Chronicle declared Lurie the winner Thursday.
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.
“I’m deeply grateful to my incredible family, campaign team, and every San Franciscan who voted for accountability, service, and change,” Lurie said in an X post Thursday. “No matter who you supported in this election, we stand united in the fight for San Francisco’s future and a safer, more affordable city for all.”
Residents Dissatisfied
Breed, elected in 2018 as the city’s first Black female mayor, shifted more to the center throughout her term, cracking down on crime, dismantling open-air drug markets and sweeping encampments. But residents were largely dissatisfied with the city’s direction, with a San Francisco Chroniclepoll last month finding that two-thirds of likely voters disapproved of her performance.
“At the end of the day, this job is bigger than any one person and what matters is that we keep moving this city forward,” Breed said in her statement.
San Francisco’s struggles have made it a target of scorn among conservative media and politicians — including President-elect Donald Trump — as a symbol of failed liberal rule. As mayor of a sanctuary city, one of Lurie’s challenges will be countering Trump policies such as his vow for mass deportations of migrants.
Lurie is the son of Rabbi Brian Lurie, who ran the Jewish Community Federation, and Miriam “Mimi” Haas, who divorced when he was young. His mother remarried philanthropist and Levi Strauss heir Peter Haas, who died in 2005. The extended family has a stake in the jeans-maker valued at more than $5.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Lurie’s mother donated $1 million to his campaign, data from San Francisco’s Ethics Commission show. She is the second-largest individual shareholder in the business and has a net worth of nearly $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg index. Levi Strauss & Co. And the Mimi and Peter Haas Foundation didn’t respond to a request for comment.
(Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, donated $1.45 million in support of Breed’s reelection campaign.)