Bad Night for Out Candidates

San Francisco's LGBT community faced the possibility of seeing the city's Assembly District 17 seat long held by out leaders be won by a straight candidate, based on unofficial returns Wednesday morning.

Gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos, running to succeed termed out gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), who had endorsed him in the race, was trailing his straight opponent, Board President David Chiu, by 2,397 votes.
Board of Supervisors President David Chiu hugs a supporter Tuesday night after early returns showed him ahead in the Assembly race. Photo: Rick Gerharter

Chiu, who represents District 3 centered in the city's Chinatown and North Beach neighborhoods, was in first place with 51.37 percent of the vote. With 48.63 percent of the vote was Campos, who represents the Mission district at City Hall.

Yet with numerous ballots still be counted by elections officials, both candidates are waiting to see additional vote tallies before they declare victory or concede. According to the Department of Elections, an additional 8,000 vote-by-mail ballots received on Election Day were to be tabulated by late Wednesday afternoon.

It still had 42,000 vote-by-mail ballots that were dropped off at polling places, and approximately 11,000 provisional ballots cast at polling places, to review and prepare to count. The department expects to have all vote-by-mail ballots counted by Sunday, November 9, and the valid provisional ballots counted and reported by Friday, November 14.

"We are pleased with the initial results but there are tens of thousands of ballots remaining to be counted. We are cautiously optimistic but we are waiting. We are in a waiting mode," Chiu told the Bay Area Reporter Wednesday morning. "We hope to have a better sense later today, but certainly within the next few days, we will have a clear understanding of the outcome."

At his election night party at Mission bar El Rio, Campos told his hundreds of supporters who had gathered to await election results that he was not ready to concede the race.

"We are still watching these election results," said Campos. "We are going to wait and see what happens. There are thousands of more ballots to be counted."

He sounded a defiant tone, declaring that no matter the outcome of the race his campaign had sent a message to City Hall.

"Progressive politics are alive in San Francisco," said Campos to enthusiastic applause. "We aren't going anywhere; you are going to have to deal with us."

Incumbent SF Supes Win Re-election

All five of the incumbent supervisors running in even-numbered districts won re-election Tuesday.

District 4 Supervisor Katy Tang ran unopposed, while District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell soundly defeated his challenger by capturing 80.25 percent of the vote.

Gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener trounced the four protest candidates he faced by garnering 77.44 percent of the vote. In a message to his supporters on Facebook, Wiener noted his vote tally was the largest winning percentage any District 8 candidate has received.

"It's been an incredible honor to hold this public trust, and I'm humbled that the voters have chosen to return me to City Hall for another term," wrote Wiener. "I will continue to work hard every day to earn that trust by addressing our city's challenges and working with the community to move San Francisco in a positive direction. Thank you."

Gay blogger and LGBT global rights activist Michael Petrelis netted 1,495 votes to land in second place. Tom Wayne Basso, whose family owned a now-closed Noe Valley eatery, was in third with 5.71 percent of the vote.

Nude activist George Davis took fourth with 4.88 percent; and community activist John Nulty, who identifies as homosexual, was last with 4.77 percent.

In the race for the District 6 supervisor seat, incumbent Supervisor Jane Kim sailed to victory with 67.18 percent of the vote. Gay Rincon Hill resident Jamie Whitaker came in second with 11.51 percent, while neighborhood activist Michael Nulty, who like his twin brother identifies as homosexual, was third with 11.33 percent. Republican David Carlos Salaverry was last with 9.98 percent of the vote.

As for the District 10 race, incumbent Supervisor Malia Cohen emerged victorious after one round of the instant-runoff vote system with 51 percent of the vote. Far behind in second place was Potrero Hill neighborhood leader Tony Kelly with 28 percent, and in third place was Marlene Tran with 21 percent.