Since 2004, San Francisco has used ranked-choice voting to elect its mayor, board of supervisors, and other officers. Voters rank their choices on one ballot rather than returning for a separate runoff. Here you can see past results and try practice polls.
The 2024 mayoral contest had 13 listed candidates and 2 qualified write-ins, with 4 strong first-round contenders. Ten ranking columns were provided — the maximum the Dominion voting system supports, and the first time this was done in San Francisco. 12.2% of voters cast valid votes in all 10 columns; 15.8% ranked more than 5 candidates; 4.1% of votes in the final round came from 6th through 10th choices. Daniel Lurie prevailed over incumbent London Breed with a strong final-round mandate.
London Breed was not the only deposed incumbent: in District 5, Bilal Mahmood pulled ahead to establish a strong final-round victory over incumbent Dean Preston. Incumbents Connie Chan and Myrna Melgar withstood challenges in Districts 1 and 7. Districts 3, 9, and 11 were open seats. In District 11, Chyanne Chen started in second place, then took a narrow lead in the final round.
Click a district for its most recent multi-round election.
Map shows districts for the 2004–2011 contests.
2012–2021 (GIF) 2022–present (PDF)
** indicates contests where the winner overcame the leading first-round candidate in later rounds.
* indicates contests where a candidate who was not one of the top two in the first round reached the final round.
Ballot styles: A ballot limited to 3 ranking columns was used from 2004 to 2018. Vote-counting machines were upgraded in 2019 to allow up to 10 choices. The 3-choice limit was the subject of a lawsuit rejected by both district and circuit courts. See this analysis of the impact of a 3-choice limit — it shows that it is wise to use all available ranking columns, and to choose lower-ranked candidates who are more likely to survive to later rounds.
These results are an independent and unofficial interpretation of cast vote records released by the San Francisco Department of Elections. The total number of votes countable in at least the first round of the 41 multi-round elections shown here is 2,815,767. DemoChoice is not affiliated with the Elections Department or any candidate.
The Elections Department separates out all “overvotes” (more than one mark in the same column), whereas DemoChoice treats second- or third-choice overvotes as votes for “none of these.” Ballots with no rankings or first-choice overvotes do not appear in these results.