The mayor of San Francisco is fighting for re-election, while the mayor of Oakland is fighting for memory

SAN FRANCISCO — The first Black woman elected mayor of San Francisco is battling a self-funded philanthropist for re-election, while in nearby Oakland, the first Hmong American mayor of a major city fought a recall effort Wednesday.

It was too early to call San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s re-election bid or Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s recall, both of which were fueled by concerns about public safety and homelessness. San Francisco and Alameda counties won’t update their results until Thursday.

Breed followed anti-poverty nonprofit founder and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie after an expensive campaign in which multiple contenders — all fellow Democrats — accused her of wasting her six years in office while homeless tent campsoutdoor drug use and brazen shoplifting increased.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Breed said at an election party on Tuesday night, noting that she also initially behind in her first race for mayor in 2018, but ultimately won office.

Crime and homelessness also caused frustrated residents to flee the country Oakland to gather enough signatures to place Thao’s recall on Tuesday’s ballot. They blame Thao, who came to power just two years ago, for a long list of problems in the city. California Governor Gavin Newsom has sent police officers onto the state’s highways, prosecutorsAnd surveillance cameras to help Oakland fight crime.

Thao became the first Hmong American mayor of a major U.S. city after she was elected in November 2022. Oakland has a population of about 400,000 and is sometimes more politically liberal than San Francisco. Vice President Kamala Harris, who conceded the presidential race to former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, claims Oakland as her birthplace.

Supporters of the recall say the mayor has, in part, “created a public safety crisis.” to shoot popular Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong. Her memory was financed largely by investor Philip Dreyfuss, who did not respond to requests for comment. The local NAACP supports the recall.

Thao is under an FBI investigation after authorities in June raided her home and other properties owned by a politically influential family that manages the city’s recycling contract. Thao has persisted her innocence and authorities have not said what they are investigating.

Thao said Tuesday evening that more ballots still needed to be counted.

But California voters showed frustration with the crime and easily approved a proposal Tuesday that would reclassify a misdemeanor theft and drug offenses as crimes.

The streets of San Francisco have become cleaner and more homeless tents are much harder to findjust one daytime recordings in September of San Francisco 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall in a popular central shopping area reignited the issue of safety in the city.

Breed, who was raised in San Francisco’s public housing by her grandmother, says the pandemic challenged the city, but her administration laid the groundwork for recovery. In the March primary, she favored a few successful votes on public safety measures to expand police powers and force some people into drug treatment.

San Francisco elects its mayor using a ranked choice voting system which allows voters to list up to 10 candidates in order of preference. Lurie led Breed in early returns.

Lurie, who has never held an elective position, vowed to bring responsibility and public service back to City Hall and relished his role as a political outsider.

“We cannot solve today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions,” he said at his election party.

Lurie pumped nearly $9 million of his own money into his first bid to become mayor, saying that as a political outsider he had to introduce himself to voters. He is an heir to the Levi Strauss & Co fortune. through his mother, Mimi Haas, who married Peter Haas when Daniel was a child. Peter Haas was CEO of the iconic clothing company for many years and died in 2005.

Breed raised more than $5 million in her re-election bid, including $1.4 million from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Early results showed San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, the most progressive contender in the race, in third place and Mark Farrell, a venture capitalist and former San Francisco supervisor who briefly served as interim mayor, in fourth place.

Breed won the election as mayor in June 2018 to serve out the remainder of Lee’s term. She was re-elected in 2019 to a full term that lasted five years instead of the usual four, after voters adjusted the electoral calendar to the presidential elections.