Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie, a political newbie with very deep pockets, is set to take the helm of San Francisco after the city's first Black woman mayor , London Breed, conceded her race for reelection on Thursday. Breed, who took office for the first time in 2018 after the death of Mayor Ed Lee and then ran for a full four-year term in 2019, steered the city through the difficult pandemic years, but was seen as widely responsible for the worsening homelessness, drug, and housing affordability crisis in San Francisco. Newsweek contacted Mayor Breed's office for comment by email on Friday early morning, outside of standard working hours.
While the three issues were seen among the city's main problems already in 2018, the COVID-19 health emergency exacerbated the situation. An exodus of workers throughout the pandemic years left the city emptied and bruised, while an explosion of crime in San Francisco's downtown, as well as the pandemic lockdowns, led to the closure of several shops through the past few years. Although San Francisco has started a process of recovery from this drop in quality of life, the city's homelessness population has skyrocketed in the past few years; home prices have remained high, despite a decline in demand after the pandemic; and fentanyl is still a very visible problem.
Social-media platforms are flooded with videos of young people celebrating Donald Trump 's victory at college campuses across the country, showing the broad support the Republican.