Municipal elections in San Francisco, California (2015)

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  • Candidate list
    • District 3
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• Election rules
• Issues
  • Mayoral race
  • District 3 race
    • Balance of board power
    • Campaign finance
    • Peskin's board service
    • Influence of Mayor Lee
    • Influence of Rosa Pak
    • September 10 forum
    • Housing policy
      • Candidate positions
      • Background
    • Ballot measures
• Census information
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2015 Elections for Mayors and City Councils

Municipal Elections

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2015 Elections

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The city of San Francisco, California, held nonpartisan elections for mayor and board of supervisors on November 3, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 9, 2015. One of the city's 11 supervisor seats—District 3—was up for election. The winner of the District 3 race served the unexpired term of former supervisor David Chiu ending after the regularly scheduled election on November 8, 2016.

The District 3 board race attracted significant attention as former supervisor Aaron Peskin and incumbent Julie Christensen sparred to tip the balance of the board. While city elections in San Francisco are nonpartisan, political leanings can be identified based on endorsements and policy positions. Prior to the election, the board was controlled by a 6-5 moderate Democratic majority with Christensen as the sixth vote. A victory by Peskin flipped the board to a 6-5 majority for liberal Democratic members. Wilma Pang was also challenging Christensen though influential local politicians and activists aligned behind Christensen and Peskin. Click here to learn more about the issues in this race.

The field of six candidates for mayor in 2015 was smaller than the average number in mayoral elections held between 1995 and 2015. An average of 11 candidates filed for each mayoral race during this period. The 2011 mayoral election had the largest field of candidates during that period, with Edwin M. Lee defeating 15 other candidates for the office previously held by Gavin Newsom (D).

Mayor

Candidate list

November 3 General election candidates:

• Kent Graham
• Francisco Herrera
• Edwin M. Lee - Incumbent Lee was first appointed to the office in 2011.
• Reed Martin
• Stuart Schuffman
• Amy Farah Weiss

Election results

Mayor of San Francisco General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Edwin M. Lee Incumbent	55.3%	105,298
Francisco Herrera	15%	28,638
Amy Farah Weiss	12.1%	23,099
Stuart Schuffman	9.6%	18,211
Kent Graham	4.6%	8,775
Reed Martin	2.4%	4,612
Write-in votes	0.9%	1,764
Total Votes		184,021
Source: City & County of San Francisco, "November 3, 2015 Official Election Results," accessed November 23, 2015

Board of Supervisors

Candidate list

District 3

November 3 General election candidates:

• Julie Christensen - Incumbent Christensen was appointed to the office on January 8, 2015.
• Wilma Pang
• Aaron Peskin

Election results

San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 3 General Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Aaron Peskin	52.4%	8,740
Julie Christensen Incumbent	43.5%	7,243
Wilma Pang	3.9%	652
Write-in votes	0.2%	30
Total Votes		16,665
Source: City & County of San Francisco, "November 3, 2015 Official Election Results," accessed November 23, 2015

Polls

Ranked-choice voting

This poll accounted for first choices in San Francisco's ranked-choice voting system:

2015 San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 3 Election
Poll	Julie Christensen*	Aaron Peskin	Wilma Pang	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Alliance for Jobs and Sustainble Growth (June 24-July 2, 2015)	24%	29%	15%	32%	+/-4.9	400
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Note: An asterisk (*) is used to denote incumbency.

This poll detailed the second round of voting in San Francisco's ranked-choice voting system based on the first poll:

2015 San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 3 Election
Poll	Julie Christensen*	Aaron Peskin	Margin of error	Sample size
Alliance for Jobs and Sustainble Growth (June 24-July 2, 2015)	52%	48%	+/-4.9	400
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Note: An asterisk (*) is used to denote incumbency.

Board districts

Below is a map of San Francisco's board districts in 2015. There were 11 districts on the board, and each district elected its own representative on the board. Click the map to return to the candidate list.

Election rules

See also: Instant-runoff voting

Municipal elections in San Francisco are held using a system known as instant-runoff voting (IRV). In an IRV system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives an overall majority of first preferences, the candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated one by one and their votes are transferred according to their second and third preferences (and so on). All votes are retallied until one candidate achieves a majority.

In San Francisco, the ballot featured first, second and third choice columns for each of the following races: mayor, city attorney, district attorney, sheriff, treasurer and District 3 supervisor. Each voter marked the first-choice column with their favored candidate before proceeding to their remaining two choices. Lee and Peskin each received more than 50 percent of the vote in each of their races, thus eliminating the need for an instant runoff. If no candidate received 50 percent or more of the first-choice votes, the last-place candidate would have been eliminated with second and third choices transferred to other candidates. This process would have continued until one candidate had 50 percent or more of the vote.

In October 2015, Wilma Pang asked her supporters to select Julie Christensen as second choice on their ballots to ensure that a female supervisor won the election.

Instant runoff ballot sample from San Francisco

Ballot-counting process

Issues

Quiet mayoral race

Mayor Ed Lee

The 2015 mayoral race in San Francisco drew little attention due to a confluence of positive economic news, campaign cash and business community support for incumbent Ed Lee. Lee, who won a full term in 2011, was favored to win re-election. He won over tech sector supporters after his election by pushing for tax breaks on stock options and tax credits for new hires. A reduction of the unemployment rate from 10 percent in 2011 to 3.5 percent in 2015 helped Lee fulfill a campaign pledge to create jobs. Lee's friendship with SV Angel founder Ron Conway led to the creation of the San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation, which finds overlaps between community life and technology. The support of tech companies manifested in campaign donations to Lee from executives including Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer and Twitter cofounder Biz Stone.

Lee also benefited from the November 2014 decision by State Sen. Mark Leno (D) to stay in the California State Senate rather than seek the mayor's office. Leno considered running for mayor in part because community groups expressed concern about rising housing prices and perceived coziness between Lee and tech companies. A poll taken in early 2014 showed Leno in a close race with Lee in a hypothetical matchup for mayor. Leno opted against a challenge to Lee because of the mayor's fundraising advantage and the lack of a groundswell of support for a new mayor.

Contentious race in District 3

Julie Christensen

Aaron Peskin

The District 3 race between incumbent Julie Christensen and challenger Aaron Peskin took center stage due to differences over the ideological leaning of the city's Board of Supervisors. The district encompasses Chinatown, the Financial District and Fisherman's Wharf. Christensen, who was appointed to the board on January 8, 2015, touted the endorsements of Mayor Lee, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) and the San Francisco Democratic Party. Peskin, who served on the board from 2001 to 2009, earned endorsements from liberal-leaning groups including Democracy for America, the San Francisco Tenants Union, the Affordable Housing Alliance and the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club. U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D), who has been involved in the city's Democratic politics since the 1970s, did not make an endorsement in the race. The Christensen-Peskin race evolved into a contest between the moderate and progressive wings of the city's Democratic Party.

Balance of board power

Members of the Board of Supervisors split evenly between Christensen and Peskin through their endorsements or board votes. Christensen and five other board members were considered a moderate Democratic majority by local political observers. Peskin's victory over Christensen shifted the board majority from 6-5 for moderate Democrats to 6-5 for liberal Democrats. The following table details board support for Christensen and Peskin prior to the November general election:

Campaign finance

Candidates filed pre-election reports with the San Francisco Ethics Commission covering contributions and expenditures through October 27, 2015. Christensen and Peskin reported a total of $668,819.00 in contributions and $818,876.00 in expenditures through this reporting period. Peskin passed Christensen $374,953.00 to $293,866.00 in contributions and $436,760.00 to Christensen's $382,116.00 in expenditures. Groups supporting Peskin or opposing Christensen reported $323,194.00 in expenditures while groups supporting Christensen or opposing Peskin reported $452,239.00 in expenditures.

Peskin's board service

Peskin served as a member of a liberal Democratic majority during his eight years on the Board of Supervisors. A rivalry developed between Peskin and former Mayor Gavin Newsom during Newsom's second term in office. Newsom and his staff accused Peskin of threatening to remove the city's environmental department from the budget and provoking fellow board member and mayoral ally Michela Alioto-Pier over charter amendments. Mayoral consultant Eric Jaye also spread rumors about Peskin's habit of calling officials while intoxicated, a rumor since repeated by Mayor Ed Lee to warn Christensen supporters from moving to Peskin. Jaye also accused Peskin of getting him fired from a lobbying position with Mills Corporation for advocating that Mills run ads in The New York Times accusing the board of corruption after blocking a Mills-supported real estate deal.

In a 2008 interview with San Francisco Weekly, Peskin acknowledged calling city officials late at night to review policies but an investigation by city human resources officials determined no wrongdoing took place. Peskin said that Newsom and his allies were upset by the former board president's power to appoint three out of the seven members on the city's Planning Commission. He challenged Jaye's account of the Mills real estate deal by suggesting that Mills received bad press for $53,000 in campaign contributions to state land commission members to influence housing policy.

Influence of Mayor Lee

The support provided to Christensen by Mayor Ed Lee was not limited to his endorsement. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in April 2015 that Lee and chief of staff Steve Kawa told allies in the business, labor and tech communities that a Peskin victory might lead to decreased support for their ventures from the mayor's office. Ron Conway appealed to business owners at the meeting to support Christensen as a means of offsetting criticisms by Peskin's supporters that the District 3 candidate raised most of her campaign money from tech investors. On October 24, 2015, Conway sent an email to executives of companies funded by SV Angel recommending votes in all three ranked-choice spots for Lee and Christensen.

Conway's appeal stemmed from spring fundraising totals of $25,300 for Christensen from Lee supporters including Conway, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce head Bob Linscheid and Google lobbyist Rebecca Prozan. Christensen's early donors exceeded the $10,737 raised by Peskin by March 31 and fell just short of the combined $26,400 raised by the five supervisor candidates who ran for election in 2014.

Influence of Rosa Pak

Rosa Pak

Rosa Pak is an activist and former Lee ally who raised money for the mayor but threw support to Peskin. Pak, a longtime advocate for the city's Chinese community, raised $270,000 for Lee's 2015 campaign prior to Christensen's appointment in January 2015. Pak and other Chinese American residents advocated for the appointment of Planning Commissioner Cindy Wu to replace former Supervisor David Chiu. The Christensen appointment led Pak to support Peskin's run for District 3. In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Pak said, "He (Lee) made a poor choice when he appointed Christensen to the board, so now he has to go and run her campaign."

September 10 forum

Christensen, Peskin and Wilma Pang participated in a candidate forum on September 10, 2015, hosted by the Golden Gateway Tenants Association and the Barbary Coast Neighborhood Association. The following table summarizes responses by the three candidates to major issues facing the district.

September 10 forum stances by candidate
Issue	Julie Christensen	Aaron Peskin	Wilma Pang
Proposition A	Support	Support	Support
Proposition F	Oppose	Support	Oppose
Housing density	New building on edge of district	Use of empty lots owned by city	Use of empty lots owned by city
Homelessness	Increase use of "navigation centers"	Increase use of "navigation centers"	Opposes use of city "czar"
Crime	Add more cops, develop better police relationships with community	Increase foot patrols and civilian employees, develop better police relationships with community	Focus on improving cultural relations with Chinatown residents
Traffic congestion	Expedite E-Line light rail service expansion	Greater public input on transit projects	Fine businesses blocking sidewalks

Housing policy

Learn more about local ballot measures related to housing by clicking here.

Candidate positions

Christensen and Peskin differed slightly on their opinions of San Francisco's rising housing prices. The following table detailed their positions on housing issues:

Policy	Christenen's position	Peskin's position
In-law housing
Increased regulation of Airbnb
Rent control
Moratorium on Mission District housing construction

Background

San Francisco's high population density, limited housing stock and influx of new companies have contributed to frequent debates about housing in the city. San Francisco had a population of 837,000 in 2013 with a population density of 17,808 residents per square mile over the city's 47 square miles. This density figure contrasts with the 7,254 residents per square mile in neighboring Oakland, 8,282 per square mile in sprawling Los Angeles and 4,171 per square mile in San Diego. Paragon Real Estate Group determined that 8,300 new housing units were created between 2010 and 2014 compared to 25,540 the previous decade.

Rising prices
The intersection of high population density and limited housing supply led the California Association of Realtors to give San Francisco a score of 10 on its Housing Affordability Index for the second quarter of 2015 compared to 20 for the Bay Area, 32 for Los Angeles, 30 for California and 57 for the United States. This index measures the ability of a family earning the city's median income to afford a 20 percent down payment and a mortgage payment that is less than 25 percent of monthly gross income. A score of 100 means that this hypothetical family can afford a home based on those criteria. The association's August 2015 report calculated the median home price for San Francisco at $1,353,450 compared to $841,560 for the Bay Area, $485,100 for California and $229,400 for the United States.

The Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) from the National Association of Home Builders is a comparable index of housing affordability. The following map details the HOI for the nation's largest cities by population for the second quarter of 2015 with high index numbers and lighter color tones equaling higher affordability based on the city's median household income:

View of real estate developers
On August 27, 2015, The Wall Street Journal attributed the growth in housing prices to a growth in the city's tech sector and purchases made by foreign investors hoping to earn dividends from further price increases. Real estate developers expressed skepticism about the viability of the city's construction boom based on costs, limited space and politics. San Francisco Business Times reported in August 2015 that total construction costs in San Francisco increased by 6 percent from 2014 to 2015. The publication also suggested that Oakland represents a release valve for developers looking for lower overhead costs in proximity to the Bay Area's tech industry. Clashes between local activists and real estate firms led to political involvement by developers including $500,000 promised by Oz Erickson and Nick Podell to defeat a proposed mortarium on Mission District development.

Housing affordability
The impact of rising housing costs on affordable housing was a frequent topic of debate among city officials and activists. Low-income and middle-income families experienced difficulty finding homes in San Francisco as older neighborhoods were converted into high-priced housing developments. Mayor Lee and other city officials pushed Proposition A to the November 2015 ballot with the hope of financing additional housing stock at lower prices. The proposition sought approval for $310 million in municipal bonds to create or rehabilitate 30,000 housing units between 2015 and 2020. This proposition included $150 million for new affordable housing and $160 million for rehabilitation of existing affordable housing units. Proposition A was opposed by the San Francisco Apartment Association, required support from two-thirds of voters because of a potential tax increase and faced challenges due to diminished buying power from high property prices.

Evictions
Another consequence of rising housing costs in San Francisco was an increase in evictions for apartment tenants. The San Francisco Rent Board determined that evictions between March 2015 and July 2015 were up 32 percent from an average of the same period from 2012 to 2014. Housing attorneys Joe Tobener and Andrew Zacks attributed these evictions to a city ordinance that took effect March 7, 2015, requiring landlords to disclose buyout settlements with their tenants. From March 7, 2015, to July 13, 2015, 47 buyouts were filed with the city's rent board at an average buyout of $43,000. During this same period, 803 evictions were filed with the city. Zacks explained the reasons for higher eviction rates in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle:

“	I can tell you that the net effect of the buyout legislation has caused there to be more evictions. Before, when a landlord bought a tenant out, one of the things they were willing to pay for was confidentiality and privacy. A lot of my clients would prefer to negotiate, to sit down and work something out. But because of the legislation they just go ahead and file for eviction.	”
—Andrew Zacks, (2015),

Ballot measures

See also: November 3, 2015 ballot measures in California

Below is a list of measures that appeared on the municipal elections ballot:
a Proposition A: City of San Francisco Housing Bond Issue
a Proposition B: City of San Francisco Paid Parental Leave for City Employees
a Proposition C: City of San Francisco Registration Fee and Monthly Reports for Expenditure Lobbyists
a Proposition D: City of San Francisco Mission Rock Development Initiative
d Proposition E: City of San Francisco Requirements For Public Meetings of Local Policy Bodies Initiative
d Proposition F: City of San Francisco Initiative to Restrict Short-Term Rentals
d Proposition G: City of San Francisco "Disclosures Regarding Renewable Energy" Initiative
a Proposition H: City of San Francisco Referred Measure Defining "Clean, Green and Renewable Energy"
d Proposition I: City of San Francisco Mission District Housing Moratorium Initiative
a Proposition J: City of San Francisco Legacy Business Historic Preservation Fund
a Proposition K: City of San Francisco Housing Development on Surplus Public Lands

Census information

The table below shows demographic information about San Francisco, California.

Demographic data for San Francisco, California (2015)
	San Francisco	California
Total population:	840,763	38,993,940
Land area (square miles):	47	155,779
Race and ethnicity
White:	48.7%	61.8%
Black/African American:	5.6%	5.9%
Asian:	33.8%	13.7%
Native American:	0.3%	0.7%
Pacific Islander:	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more:	4.6%	4.5%
Hispanic/Latino:	15.3%	38.4%
Education
High school graduation rate:	87%	81.8%
College graduation rate:	53.8%	31.4%
Income
Median household income:	$81,294	$61,818
Persons below poverty level:	13.2%	18.2%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms San Francisco California Election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Municipal elections in San Francisco, California (2015) - Google News

See also

• United States municipal elections, 2015
• San Francisco, California

External links

Suggest a link

• City of San Francisco - Future Elections
• City of San Francisco - Official Candidate List