The results of the March 3 San Francisco election are finally (almost) final; the Department of Elections reports all but about 1,500 ballots have been counted. So we can now say pretty safely that nothing is going to change.
Two things stand out: With Carolyn Gold now leading Rani Singh by 1,710 votes, the three judicial races are all decided. Two public defenders and a tenant lawyer will join the bench.
This is unprecedented – public defenders almost never become judges, and I don’t think a career eviction-defense lawyer has ever been elected or appointed to the San Francisco bench.
Some of that may be the influence of the endorsement of the Democratic Party, which backed Michelle Tong, Maria Evangelista, and Gold.
And the results make clear that the progressives have won 22 of the 24 available seats on the Democratic County Central Committee, which sets policy (including endorsements) for the party.
Among the most-watched races: The contest for the final slot in Assembly District 19. Faauuga Moliga, a School Board member, was virtually tied with Mary Jung, a lobbyist for the real-estate industry and former party chair, as the results trickled in. Moliga is now 255 votes up, so that’s enough to say this race is over.
Jung has been on the panel since 2000, and ran the party for four years, between 2012 and 2016. She was an ally of real-estate-industry favorites like Scott Wiener and Ed Lee. She used her post to funnel money to political clubs that backed real-estate-friendly candidates and to help the likes of Ron Conway attack limits on waterfront development.
The election of 2016, when progressives won the majority and Jung lost her job as chair, was a major shift for the local party, which is now chaired by David Campos.
And the voters have made clear they are happy with the new direction; 22 of the 24 available seats will be held by members or allies of the Campos slate known as Social Justice Democrats.
