Tech entrepreneur and “YIMBY” candidate Bilal Mahmood is poised to unseat District 5 supervisor Dean Preston, San Francisco’s only democratic socialist now serving on the board. In the most expensive district race, political opposition groups lavishly funded the effort to “Dump Dean.”
Though some 42,000 additional citywide votes are still uncounted, Preston on Sunday evening acknowledged his dwindling chances to mitigate his vote deficit and seemed to concede the race.
“I’ve spent a lifetime fighting for underdogs, often against the odds,” Preston said in a statement to Mission Local. “I wouldn’t change a minute of it. We can’t win every battle, but we’ll continue the fight.”
Though Preston has continued to gain on Mahmood in first-place votes, Mahmood has maintained a lead when ranked-choice selections are counted, putting him more than 1,300 votes ahead of Preston with 52.7 percent.
“I think it’s representative of a broad coalition campaign that we’ve built,” said Mahmood on Sunday, adding that he believes he will keep his lead over Preston. “And clearly it’s appealed to both progressives and moderates in the district.”
Mahmood’s healthy lead in a longtime progressive district may be the only successful effort this election to oust an incumbent progressive. But the makeup of the Board of Supervisors could still change substantially depending on the outcome of the vote in Districts 1 and 11.
Progressive Connie Chan (51.53 percent) in District 1 is presently nearly 1,000 votes ahead of Marjan Philhour (48.47 percent). District 11, held by termed out Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, is too close to call between the progressive Chyanne Chen (50.62 percent) and the moderate Michael Lai (49.38 percent), though Chen has caught and passed Lai in recent vote drops.
Moderate Danny Sauter appears poised to claim the termed-out Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s seat in District 3, while Jackie Fielder has claimed victory in District 9. District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar will likely keep her seat.
Preston has held his seat since 2019, beating Mayor London Breed’s handpicked successor Vallie Brown on two occasions. Clearly, defeating him would be a big win for the city’s more conservative forces.
Last updated on Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. Data from the San Francisco Department of Elections, chart by Kelly Waldron. *Incumbent.
Breed’s pick this year, Mahmood only moved to the district in 2023; he has had ethics issues, and was financially backed by big tech figures. Nonetheless, he apparently clicked with voters. His campaign emphasized the need to cut down bureaucracy and red tape to build housing faster, and to take a more aggressive approach to the fentanyl crisis.
In many parts of District 5, voters also leaned toward their former supervisor, Breed, for mayor over the more progressive candidate, Supervisor Aaron Peskin.
District 5 encompasses a wide slice of San Francisco, spanning the Tenderloin through Hayes Valley, the Fillmore and Japantown, to Haight-Ashbury. Following redistricting in 2022, the Tenderloin was grafted into the district, which lost Cole Valley and part of the Inner Sunset. On paper, that move would seem to favor Preston, but the results in this election tell a different story.
Mahmood said he believes “the electorate just wanted change.” He noted that he has accumulated most of the second- and third-place transfers from other newcomer candidates like Scotty Jacobs and Autumn Looijen, despite their differing policy stances.
The district has long been a progressive stronghold in the city, where Breed was seen by political analysts as an outlier moderate supervisor among otherwise much farther left-leaning leaders like Matt Gonzalez or Ross Mirkarimi.
This election’s results indicate a shift — Preston lost out on voters’ second- and third-place selections, as moderate challengers’ votes pooled together to oust him. Mahmood has blended progressive policies where he aligned closely with Preston, with more conservative ones, like expanding law enforcement.
The race for District 5 was also the most expensive supervisor contest this election cycle, with more than $1.5 million raised by the candidates including public financing. A GrowSF PAC specifically formed with the goal of removing Preston raised nearly $300,000, funded by figures like Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen ($50,000) and Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan ($50,000). Preston’s campaign, meanwhile, raised more than $600,000.
It was a tumultuous and nail-biting few days as the Elections Department slowly eked out results; an initial ballot drop on election night showed Mahmood and Preston neck in neck, a difference of fewer than 200 votes putting Mahmood one percent above Preston. Preston was not discouraged when he trailed in initial results, anticipating progressive votes to come in later.
“The initial drop is always the least progressive,” Preston said at the time, seeing he was only 200 votes behind and saying he wasn’t worried. “That’s a great first drop for us, and very encouraging.”
But that hasn’t been the case in District 5 — though the more progressive candidates locked in tight races have indeed flourished in late voting in Districts 1, 7 and 11.
While Preston has maintained a lead on Mahmood in first-place votes, subsequent ballot drops each day since Thursday only solidified Mahmood’s lead after ranked-choice tabulations: Preston is presently ahead by 279 first-place votes, but ranked choice vote accumulations from other candidates swamp him.
Thus far, 26,477 votes have been counted in the district.
Mahmood has said his priorities in office will be to build low-income, middle-income, and market rate housing, and reduce bureaucracy and red tape to do so more quickly. He also wants to use law enforcement and treatment in conjunction to address the fentanyl crisis and supports safe consumption sites and abstinence-based treatment.
Though Preston presented himself as a champion of tenant rights who has worked to get affordable housing built in the city, Mahmood attacked Preston throughout the campaign, accusing him of “blocking” certain housing projects because he pushed for increased affordability. Preston called these attacks “dishonest” and maintained that he had a lengthy track record of building housing across District 5.
Preston posted a statement on social media on Sunday evening to that end: “I’m proud to stand up to the disinformation fueled by some of the wealthiest in our country, and I will continue to push back against the right-wing pressure groups that backed my opponents and spent seemingly unlimited funds in our district and throughout the city.”
About the author
Mission artist animates green utility boxes with a flock of birds
Read Mission Local often?Help grow our newsroom during end-of-year fundraising, joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by donating below. Chestnut-backed chickadees, yellow warblers and other feathered birds have landed this winter on the unassuming green utility boxes along South Van Ness Avenue and Bryant Street in the Mission.The 20 feathered friends are the creation of Claudio Talavera-Ballón, a Mission-based Peruvian painter sponsored by the nonprofit Paint the Void sponsored to paint 10 Mission utility boxes, part of a project to remake 250 utility boxes across San Francisco.It’s an effort to color the utility boxes that store infrastructure for nearby traffic lights across the city. Elsewhere, dozens of artists have covered the “municipal green” boxes with pandas, a girl on the swing, and a naughty astronaut. Talavera-Ballón’s flock, all Bay Area species, can be seen at almost every intersection […]
Undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia hit by outage, prompting investigation
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A power cable linking Finland and Estonia under the Baltic Sea suffered an outage, prompting an investigation, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Wednesday.Writing on X, Orpo said that power transmission through the Estlink-2 cable stopped Wednesday and that authorities were “investigating the matter.” He said the interruption would not affect electricity supplies in Finland.Estonian network operator Elering said there was enough spare capacity to meet power needs on the Estonian side, public broadcaster ERR said on its website.Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inboxSee for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.Authorities have been on edge about undersea infrastructure in the Baltic. Two data cables, one running between Finland and Germany, the other between Lithuania and Sweden, were severed in November.Germany's defense minister said officials […]
Santa has arrived!!!
Santa has arrived!!! Source: missionlocal.org
The ‘Godfather of EVs’ explains why China is winning the race to go electric — and why hybrids are a ‘fool’s errand’
Former Nissan and Aston Martin executive Andy Palmer is known as the "godfather of EVs" thanks to his work on the Nissan Leaf.Courtesy of Andy Palmer Andy Palmer, the "Godfather of EVs," explains how China took the lead in the electric car race. Ex-Nissan COO Palmer got the moniker after developing the Leaf, the world's first mass-market EV. He says Chinese EVs offer "remarkable" value for money and have better battery tech than their Western rivals. The man often known as the "Godfather of EVs" has a warning for automakers thinking of ditching electric vehicles for hybrids. Former Aston Martin CEO and Nissan exec Andy Palmer told Business Insider that delaying transitioning to EVs in favor of selling hybrids was a "fool's errand" and warned automakers doing so risk falling even further behind Chinese EV companies. Palmer's moniker comes from his […]
S.F. police shooting victim idolized cops, law enforcement
The Central Valley man who police killed last week — purportedly attempting to arrest him for an alleged hit-and-run in San Francisco — thought very highly of law enforcement, his social media presence shows. Hodge, whose identity has been reported widely in the media but remains unconfirmed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, ran his own private security firm called Covert Guardian Solutions based in Lodi, in San Joaquin County. Hodge and his company are licensed with the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. His company website advertises protection for high-profile individuals as well as security and surveillance for businesses. On his social media page, Hodge posted photos of a vehicle, labeled with Covert Guardian Solutions branding, outside both the Dior store and the nearby Louis Vuitton store. Police believe that Hodge was working as a security guard outside the […]
Scientists Destroy 99% of Cancer Cells in Lab Using Vibrating Molecules
Scientists have discovered a remarkable way to destroy cancer cells. A study published last year found stimulating aminocyanine molecules with near-infrared light caused them to vibrate in sync, enough to break apart the membranes of cancer cells.Aminocyanine molecules are already used in bioimaging as synthetic dyes. Commonly used in low doses to detect cancer, they stay stable in water and are very good at attaching themselves to the outside of cells.The research team from Rice University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Texas, said their approach is a marked improvement over another kind of cancer-killing molecular machine previously developed, called Feringa-type motors, which could also break the structures of problematic cells."It is a whole new generation of molecular machines that we call molecular jackhammers," said chemist James Tour from Rice University, when the results were published in December 2023."They […]
Related
Mission artist animates green utility boxes with a flock of birds
Read Mission Local often?Help grow our newsroom during end-of-year fundraising, joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by donating below. Chestnut-backed chickadees, yellow warblers and other feathered birds have landed this winter on the unassuming green utility boxes along South Van Ness Avenue and Bryant Street in the Mission.The 20 feathered friends are the creation of Claudio Talavera-Ballón, a Mission-based Peruvian painter sponsored by the nonprofit Paint the Void sponsored to paint 10 Mission utility boxes, part of a project to remake 250 utility boxes across San Francisco.It’s an effort to color the utility boxes that store infrastructure for nearby traffic lights across the city. Elsewhere, dozens of artists have covered the “municipal green” boxes with pandas, a girl on the swing, and a naughty astronaut. Talavera-Ballón’s flock, all Bay Area species, can be seen at almost every intersection […]
Santa has arrived!!!
Santa has arrived!!! Source: missionlocal.org
S.F. police shooting victim idolized cops, law enforcement
The Central Valley man who police killed last week — purportedly attempting to arrest him for an alleged hit-and-run in San Francisco — thought very highly of law enforcement, his social media presence shows. Hodge, whose identity has been reported widely in the media but remains unconfirmed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, ran his own private security firm called Covert Guardian Solutions based in Lodi, in San Joaquin County. Hodge and his company are licensed with the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. His company website advertises protection for high-profile individuals as well as security and surveillance for businesses. On his social media page, Hodge posted photos of a vehicle, labeled with Covert Guardian Solutions branding, outside both the Dior store and the nearby Louis Vuitton store. Police believe that Hodge was working as a security guard outside the […]
Clancy’s 41-year-old Christmas tree lot is a tradition on a clock
The undeveloped lot at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Lawton Street is quiet and lifeless most of the year. But, at year’s end, pumpkins and Christmas trees line a dirt path, giant candy canes stand illuminated by strings of lights, and the whir of saws fills the air. Opened in 1949, Clancy’s Pumpkins and Christmas Trees has been at this corner of the Inner Sunset for 41 years. But perhaps not for much longer. Earlier this year, the Board of Education approved using the undeveloped land at 1620 Seventh Ave., owned by the SFUSD, as a potential site for teacher housing, which would move the school district closer to its goal of developing 550 educator housing units across San Francisco by 2030. It is unclear how long it will take for the project to break ground. But for Clancy’s, the clock […]
Seeing a show – Mission Local
Mission Local produces enterprise reporting on San Francisco's most critical issues: police reform, corruption, public health, housing and homelessness. Learn more about us, and donate below keep us reporting.Subscribe to Mission Local's daily newsletter Source: missionlocal.org
Waymo rolls toward San Francisco Airport — showdown brewing
On Friday morning, a driverless Waymo vehicle, for reasons unknown, rolled into a patch of wet cement on the grounds of Laguna Honda Hospital — and sank in. It was, for onlookers, a source of much mirth and cellphone picture-taking. A witness tells your humble narrator that the wet cement ought to have been better demarcated with barricades — but, also, that a human driver would never, ever have made this mistake. Two weeks prior, an official with San Francisco International Airport wrote to the Planning Department. “The City and County of San Francisco, by and through the San Francisco Airport Commission proposes to approve a permit allowing autonomous vehicle companies to map the roads at San Francisco International Airport, ” it read.“Under the Proposed Project, autonomous vehicle companies would be allowed to deploy up to two autonomous vehicles operated by human drivers to […]
