Current election results show the SF Board of Supervisors has flipped to a slight moderate majority, but we may not be talking enough about how Mayor Breed will get one more free appointment to the board on her way out.  

On the morning after the November 5 election, we looked at the balance of power on the SF Board of Supervisors and found that the moderate candidates looked poised to pick off a couple supervisor progressive seats. And so far, that is exactly what’s happened.

Supervisor Dean Preston conceded his race to challenger Bilal Mahmood on Sunday, after tech PACs spent big to defeat Preston. And while the YIMBY bloc’s other arch-nemesis Supervisor Aaron Peskin was termed out of office anyway, Peskin’s preferred successor Sharon Lai lost to second-time candidate Danny Sauter in a race the Chronicle called Saturday. So yes, the moderates have every right to sing “Ding Dong” over these two outcomes they’ve been itching to see for years.


But if current results hold up (and there are still 24,700 votes left to count), moderates will have actually lost more races than they won Tuesday. Notably, longtime tech PAC target Connie Chan was declared the winner of the District 1 race late Monday afternoon. Democratic Socialist Jackie Fielder also won the District 9 race, and labor organizer Chyanne Chen maintains her very slight lead in the District 11 race, per Monday afternoon's updated results.

Again, these results can change, and we’ll know more around 4 pm Tuesday with the latest updates. But as is, moderates spent a ton of money to go 2-4 in six races, which hardly seems an accomplishment.

Screenshot: X/Twitter (now deleted)

Supervisor Myrna Melgar is also ahead of her more moderate challenger Matt Boschetto by a 53%-47% margin, with dwindling votes remaining to count. Melgar may object to being classified a “progressive,” but since she was included in Garry Tan’s “Die slow, motherfuckers” tweet, it’s fair to say she is seen as a progressive by some in the moderate camp.


All these results considered, it appears the current 7-4 progressive majority on the Board of Supervisors will switch to a 6-5 moderate majority on the Board of Supervisors, as Mission Local observed earlier today. At least four board members will be newcomers. And as Mission Local notes in that piece, “The inexperienced members will take office as San Francisco faces the prospect of a second Trump administration poised to assault the city on several fronts, the continuing downtown vacancy crisis, and an $800 million budget deficit that will likely herald deep cuts to city services.”

Moreover, Aaron Peskin will no longer be president of the board. Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is the longest-tenured moderate, and the only one who’s even served a full term, so he’d seem a likely bet as your new board president.

But Melgar comes across as angling for the presidency in that Mission Local report, saying she can “talk to everyone and negotiate more than anyone.” And Melgar does have good working relationships with both sides.

Mission Local also points out an angle that we all seem to have overlooked. They note that on her way out, Mayor London Breed will get to appoint the replacement for District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani's seat, as Stefani won her race for state Assembly.

That’s not flipping a seat, it will be a new moderate in the place of the moderate Stefani. And given Stefani’s cakewalk Assembly win, Breed has probably known for months who she prefers to appoint. It remains to be seen whether Lurie’s winning Breed’s job will affect her calculation on who she picks for D2.

While the moderates have won control of the Board of Supervisors, the progressives held their ground pretty well considering all six progressive seats were up for grabs, while the moderates did not have to play defense on a single seat. That goes the other way in 2026, when moderates will be defending five seats, with progressives defending only Shamann Walton’s District 10 seat.

And Walton will be termed out, so that winner will be a fresh face no matter what. But the return of Trump, and the effects of a budget deficit, will likely be big factors in all those races.

Note: This post has been updated with the latest data from the new Monday, November 11 election tallies.

Related: Dean Preston Concedes SF District 5 Election [SFist]

Image: SFGovTV