SAN FRANCISCO: Mayoral Candidate Mark Leno Holds Thin Lead, Would Be City’s First Openly Gay Mayor

San Francisco’s Fox affiliate reports:

The race to see who will become San Francisco’s next mayor is still up in the air as of this morning with former state Sen. Mark Leno holding a narrow lead over Board of Supervisors president London Breed. Initial results from Tuesday’s election indicated a large margin in first-place votes for Breed.

However, once San Francisco’s ranked-choice voting system was taken into account with voters selecting their top three choices, Leno took the lead early this morning with 50.42 percent of the vote compared to 49.58 percent for Breed with more ballots yet to count.

The city’s mayoral race had several high-profile candidates, including Supervisor Jane Kim and former Supervisor Angela Alioto. The race was prompted by the unexpected death of Mayor Ed Lee in December. Following his passing, Breed served as both acting mayor and Board of Supervisors president. However, once she announced she would run for mayor, progressive supervisors pushed for the appointment of a “caretaker” mayor who was not running.

Leno would be the city’s first openly gay mayor.