You won't have Ross Mirkarimi to kick around anymore.
The San Francisco sheriff hosted a muted election night party at a restaurant in the Mission District, joined by a couple dozen of his closest supporters and his family, but missing the political leaders that were at his challenger’s event to the north. The first tally of votes left him a gaping 35 points behind Vicki Hennessy.
“It’s early, very early. We’ll see how it goes. It’ll be an interesting night,” he said, adding that the count included only vote-by-mail ballots, and he expected a big swing when precincts started to report.
But a few hours later, when all the in-person ballots were counted, the sheriff dogged by a string of scandals that began before he took office was all but officially conceding the race.
“I really wish her the best, and I want to do whatever we can to assist her in her moving into the sheriff-elect and then the sheriff position,” he said of Hennessy, who after the second round of ranked-choice voting had captured nearly 77,962 votes to Mirkarimi's 41,562. “I’ve been an elected public servant for 11 years. That is a privilege and an honor I will always love San Francisco for.”
In San Francisco’s South of Market district, criminal justice and city leaders meandered through Hennessy’s party. She stressed that her ability to work with people throughout city government made her a better choice than Mirkarimi, who’s become a pariah to many in San Francisco politics.