The big news in San Francisco tonight is that the Big Money didn’t win.
Most of the votes have been counted, and it appears that the Election Day votes are not much different from those cast early by mail, which means Election Day absentees will be the same too.
Which means the pattern we have seen is probably going to hold. Propositions F, I and L – the three major tax measures on the ballot – are all going to pass. Prop. I – which the Big Money attacked furiously – is winning handily.
Right now, at 11pm, the Department of Elections website isn’t updated the RCV algorithm. But it appears that Connie Chan is winning in D1. Dean Preston has clearly won in D5. It looks as if Myrna Melgar will win in D7. Ahsha Safai is going to be re-elected in D11.
That means the progressives will maintain their majority on the board, although possibly not the same eight-vote majority they (sometimes) had.
A measure that the mayor opposed to split up the Department of Public Works has passed easily.
The mayor announced on Election Day that her top priorities were electing Marjan Philhour in D1 (not happening right now), electing Vallie Brown in D5 (not going to happen), electing Joel Engardio or Melgar in D7 (looks like Melgar, the mayor’s second choice) and re-electing Safai (that’s happening).
So she’s at 50 percent, more or less. If Melgar winds up winning in D7, she will become an important swing vote on the board, particularly when it comes to electing a new board president in January.
A nice little note: While Uber and Lyft have won their measure to overturn state labor law, 60 percent of San Franciscans vote No on 22. Something for our local officials to consider when they think about regulating tech companies in the future.
As the mail-in ballots get counted and ranked-choice voting proceeds, Marjan Philhour is leading over Chan.
GO MARJAN!
Down with NIMBYs and more housing for all!
When Biden loses to Trump, will Pelosi and Schumer be sacked to make way for fresh blood or are they comfortably ensconced in their sinecures?
Pretty good reporting, so far, but it’s not encouraging to read the headline “Democrat leading in key Maine Senate race” when you also report that “Republican incumbent Susan Collins is leading Democrat Sarah Gideon, 59.2 percent to 34.5 percent.”