After years of negative headlines and post-pandemic economic struggles, San Francisco has picked a wealthy Democratic outsider with no government experience to serve as the city’s next mayor.
Daniel Lurie, 47, is one of the heirs to the Levi Strauss jeans company fortune and previously spent 15 years as director of a San Francisco nonprofit he founded. He defeated several Democratic challengers, including the current mayor, London Breed, in an election that was expected to break records for local campaign spending.
“I am deeply grateful to my incredible family, my campaign team and every San Franciscan who voted for responsibility, service and change,” Lurie said in a statement. “Regardless of who you supported in this election, we stand united in the fight for San Francisco’s future and a safer and more affordable city for all.”
Lurie poured more than $8 million of his own money into his campaign, while his billionaire mother, Mimi Haas, backed him with another $1 million. He will be the first San Francisco mayor since 1911 to hold office without previously serving in government, making him the city’s “least experienced mayor in a long time,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
But the Chronicle also ultimately endorsed Lurie, praising the “balance of compassion and toughness” in his planned approach to dealing with San Francisco’s people struggling with homelessness, and saying the city needed a change in leadership, making up for Lurie’s inexperience could be worth it. risk.
Lurie had touted his experience financing and building affordable housing at the Tipping Point Foundation as proof he could lead San Francisco in the right direction.
San Francisco is dominated by Democrats, so the choice was essentially between moderates and progressives, with voters focused on pragmatic centrists. Lurie defeated and will replace Breed, the city’s first Black female mayor, who has led the city since 2018.
Breed, who was raised in public housing by her grandmother, conceded the race Thursday when it became clear she could not overcome voters’ deep dissatisfaction with Lurie, a philanthropist and anti-poverty nonprofit, trailing behind.
“At the end of the day, this job is bigger than one person and what matters is that we continue to move this city forward,” Breed said, adding that she called Lurie to congratulate him. “I know we are both committed to improving this city we love.”
The Northern California city represents the challenges facing many major US cities, which have struggled with an uneven economic recovery and rising costs of living since the Covid-19 pandemic. Standout issues in all candidates’ campaigns were housing and crime, even as crime fell by 32%.
San Francisco has the highest median household income among major U.S. cities, but homelessness remains persistent. Since a Supreme Court ruling in June, Breed’s government has been actively clearing unhoused encampments.
Her critics pointed out that the cleanup is a temporary solution and that the city has not done enough to provide shelter for the unhoused population.
In an interview with Reuters, Lurie said sweeps are a tool for the city to combat homelessness and pledged to set up 1,500 emergency shelter beds in his first six months in office.
Lurie is an heir to the Levi Strauss & Co fortune through his mother, Mimi, who married Peter Haas when Lurie was a child. Peter Haas, a great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss, was the longtime CEO of the iconic clothing company who died in 2005.
Both the Levi’s name and the Haas family’s philanthropic foundations are deeply entrenched in San Francisco’s history and identity.
Lurie’s father, Brian Lurie, is a rabbi and former director of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation.
