San Francisco's new school board commissioners and California assemblymember will be selected and elected, respectively, in the coming weeks following Tuesday's special election.
Mayor London Breed will name replacements for recalled San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education members Alison Collins, Gabriela López and Faauuga Moliga after the Board of Supervisors certify Tuesday's results. The recalled members will serve 10 days after the results are certified, which won't happen sooner than March 1.
San Franciscans living in Assembly District 17, meanwhile, will vote in another election on April 19 to select David Chiu's successor after Chiu was named San Francisco City Attorney last fall. None of the four candidates vying to replace him earned more than 50% of the vote on Tuesday, so the two top vote-getters – a pair of progressives in Supervisor Matt Haney (37.4% of the vote as of Tuesday night) and former Supervisor David Campos (35.5%) – will square off in two months.
Breed's appointments will likely start serving sooner, before they face re-election themselves this November. The mayor said in a press conference on Wednesday morning she'll ask potential appointees how they'll address learning loss, equity gaps and the growing budget deficit.
Breed endorsed the recall of all three commissioners, telling reporters on Wednesday that stories from parents about children struggling during the pandemic moved her emotionally.
Parents upset by the slow pace of school reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the school board members did not prioritize the kids. The school board ended merit-based admissions to Lowell High School and considered renaming schools amid the pandemic, both of which also angered parents.
"These were people who were pushing and fighting for their children," Breed said of parents demanding change on the school board, who were backed by more than $1.8 million in spending on the race compared to $64,070 by recall opponents, according to the San Francisco Ethics Commission's latest figures.
"I can't say that enough," Breed said. "The stories that I've heard over the past couple weeks would have brought you to tears."
Breed called her forthcoming appointments some of "the hardest decisions I've ever had to make." She said she wants to listen to the message voters sent on Tuesday, and Christine Pelosi – a Democratic political strategist and San Francisco political observer – said Haney and Campos' campaigns will have to do the same.
"San Francisco voters are really tired of performative pandemic politics," Pelosi, the daughter of House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, told KCBS Radio. "They want to see real results."
After mere percentage points separated the two candidates in the results released on Tuesday night, Haney and Campos will now look to win support of the two campaigns that didn't advance.
Former Obama administration official Bilal Mahmood had about 21.2% of the vote as of Tuesday night, while City College of San Francisco trustee Thea Selby had nearly 6%. Haney said winning over Mahmood and Selby's supporters will be vital in what's anticipated to be a low-turnout election, as the Assembly race will be the only one on the April 19 ballot.
"I'll be doing everything I can to win over the support of people who chose them in this round and get them to turn out again for me," Haney said.
Campos, current Chief of Staff to San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, said he fended off special interests to advance to the runoff and believes his campaign is in a strong position. The former supervisor said his campaign's "message is resonating" with voters in the district.
"We're gonna be there fighting for the underdog, fighting for regular people, fighting for not just low-income, but middle-income San Franciscans," Campos said.
The runoff winner will fill the seat through the end of the year, and the primary for the full term is scheduled for June ahead of the November election. April's losing candidate could, conceivably, run for the seat again in the primary.
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