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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie—who, like Donald Trump in 2016, is a political newbie with very deep pockets pushing for radical change—is set to take the helm of San Francisco after the city's first Black woman mayor, London Breed, conceded her race for reelection on Thursday.
The race in San Francisco has been a snapshot of the national election: namely, a Democrat incumbent who has struggled to deal with repeated scandals around the cost of living crisis and crime has been displaced by a political outsider tapping into these frustrations with a message to upend the broken political system and make sweeping changes. However, instead of the focus being on immigration, in San Fran it is the homelessness crisis.
Like Trump, San Francisco native Lurie grew up in a wealthy household and has the backing of Big Tech, with WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum donating to his campaign as well as Trump's. However, unlike the president-elect, Lurie is a Democrat who does not have a criminal record or been the subject of a string of controversies. Lurie's plan for the homeless is also a compassionate one, proposing a bold vision to build thousands of units of shelter in order to clear out encampments.
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"He really embodied the change that San Franciscans were calling out for," said Tyler Law, Lurie's top consultant, to Politico.
Newsweek contacted Lurie's campaign team by email for comment on Friday, outside of standard working hours.
London Breed the Latest Democratic Mayor to Face Revolt
Breed, who took office for the first time in 2018 after the death of Mayor Ed Lee and then ran for a full four-year term in 2019, steered the city through the pandemic years, but was seen as widely responsible for the worsening homelessness, drug, and housing affordability crisis in San Francisco. Newsweek contacted Mayor Breed's office by email for comment on Friday early morning, outside of standard working hours.
While the three issues were seen among the city's main problems already in 2018, the COVID-19 health emergency exacerbated the situation. An exodus of workers throughout the pandemic years left the city emptied and bruised, while an explosion of crime in San Francisco's downtown, as well as the pandemic lockdowns, led to the closure of several shops.
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Although San Francisco has started a process of recovery from this drop in quality of life, the city's homelessness population has skyrocketed in the past few years; home prices have remained high, despite a decline in demand after the pandemic; and fentanyl is still a very visible problem.
Breed's time in office has also been rocked by several scandals. Former public works director Mohammed Nuru, who previously had an intimate relationship with Breed, was arrested by the FBI in 2020 for taking bribes. Harlan Kelly, her former general manager of the city's public utilities commission, was sentenced to four years in prison after federal investigations into corruption, fraud and his involvement in bribery and kickback schemes. Sheryl Davis, one of her top officials, was forced to resign in September after questions were raised regarding contracts awarded to a man she was living with.
For the five Democrats, including Lurie, who challenged Breed on the ballot on November 5, she is to blame for letting San Francisco's problems become worse in the past six years.
Breed's defeat is part of a wider revolt against Democratic mayors at the ballot box in blue cities that have struggled post-pandemic. Neighboring Oakland ousted Mayor Sheng Thao in September and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot could only finish third in her re-election fight last year. Before New York City Mayor Eric Adams was charged with accepting illegal campaign contributions his approval rating was 28 percent, the lowest rating since records began.
"Being the mayor of an urban center after a pandemic has been one of the hardest jobs in America," Todd David, a member of Breed's inner circle of advisers, told Politico.
Daniel Lurie's Plan to Shake Up San Francisco
The 47-year-old heir to the Levi Strauss jeans company fortune injected at least $8.6 million of his own money and $1 million donation from his mother into his campaign for mayor, as reported by The New York Times. He made being a political outsider his main strength.
Like the president-elect, who took over U.S. politics by a storm in 2016 as a wealthy political outsider with no experience at any level of government, promising to make America great again, Lurie has triumphed with his vow to bring San Francisco back to its former glory.
While Trump's focus has been on immigration, Lurie's has been on San Francisco's homelessness problem. The latest data from San Francisco's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing shows a total of 8,323 people were experiencing homelessness in the city in 2024, up from 7,754 in 2022. Of these, 52 percent—or 4,354—were unsheltered.
Lurie's credentials to tackle San Francisco's homelessness crisis are the work he has done with his antipoverty, nonprofit Tipping Point Community, which has built tiny home shelters and permanent subsidized housing for unhoused people in the city. Lurie says the nonprofit has helped more than 6,000 people transition into permanent housing or prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
While critics said the success he has obtained with his nonprofit cannot be replicated citywide because of the cost involved and the methods used by Tipping Point Community, Lurie has said that he can, promising to create a shelter system of 1,500 beds in six months.
In a speech delivered on election night, he also promised to help small businesses thrive in the city, hire more police officers, and make Chinese American residents feel safe after a series of recent anti-Asian attacks.
"I'm deeply grateful to my incredible family, campaign team and every San Franciscan who voted for accountability, service, and change," Lurie said in a statement.
In a speech on the same night, Breed, a San Francisco native who grew up in poverty, accused Lurie of "buying the race" with his big spending.
"It has been really one of the most sad and horrible things I've seen in politics in San Francisco, that someone would take their wealth and just basically buy this office," Breed said, addressing her supporters at a soul food restaurant in the city. "It's really unfortunate and pretty disgusting."
In her concession speech delivered later in the night, however, she promised a smooth transition of power before Lurie is set to take office in January. "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 concession speech. "I know we are both committed to improving this city we love."
Update 11/08/2024 5:39 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and context.
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