Wiener, Kim advance to November showdown

San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener held a narrower than expected lead over Supervisor Jane Kim in the hotly contested primary Tuesday for state Senate District 11 representing San Francisco and northern San Mateo County, setting up another election between the two in November.

With 594 of 645 precincts in the district reporting as of midnight, Wiener has received 46.2 percent of the vote to Jane Kim’s 44 percent overall, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.

Wiener’s lead is strongest in San Mateo County, where he had won 46.43 percent of the vote to Kim’s 37.33 percent with 34 of 48 precincts counted, according to San Mateo County elections officials. In San Francisco, the two are at 46.1 percent to 44.4 percent with all precincts counted.

Wiener and Kim are expected to face off again on the November ballot under California’s top-two candidate open primary system for statewide offices. They are vying to replace termed-out state Sen. Mark Leno.

While both are Democrats, Kim is part of the city’s progressive faction, while Wiener is considered more moderate, and the two have labored to emphasize their differences during the hard-fought primary campaign.

Wiener, who entered the race first and received most of the big name Democratic Party endorsements, has been widely viewed as the favorite to win. Known for his strong support of public transit and environmental issues, he has staked out positions in favor of cleaning up homeless tent encampments and in support of recently removed police Chief Greg Suhr, who came under fire for fatal police shootings.

His recent legislative accomplishments include a city policy requiring employers to provide paid parental leave and a requirement that developers include solar panels in new buildings.

Kim’s campaign received a recent boost due to endorsements by Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and state Democratic Party chairman John Burton. She has drawn headlines for her criticism of the city’s expenditures on Super Bowl celebrations and for being the first supervisor to call for Suhr to step down.

In addition, she introduced a measure on today’s ballot raising the affordable housing requirement for new developments to 25 percent and recently introduced legislation that would make City College of San Francisco free for city residents.

Speaking Tuesday night at her campaign party, Kim said city progressives were in a “long game,” as they fought not only for the state Senate seat but also for the Democratic Central Committee and the Board of Supervisors, which has a number of seats open in the November election.

“We know that we represent the majority of San Franciscans,” Kim said.

Wiener thanked voters on Twitter for their support and said he was honored to come in first place in the primary:

“Onward to November & victory.”

-0- San Francisco voters on Tuesday embraced a measure raising the amount of affordable housing developers are required to provide in new projects to as much as 25 percent, according to complete unofficial election results.

Measure C, introduced by Supervisors Jane Kim and Aaron Peskin, removes the inclusionary housing requirement from the city’s charter and allows the Board of Supervisors to change it as required.

However, it also sets the requirements at up to 25 percent of all housing units for larger projects in the interim, a level that developers and some city officials had argued could act to limit housing development.

With all 597 precincts reporting, the measure passed with 67.27 percent of the vote, well above the simple majority needed for approval.

Voters appeared ready to approve all five local measures on Tuesday’s ballot.

Proposition A, a $350 million bond that will finance improvements to city health and emergency services facilities, passed with 78.62 percent of the vote. It needed a two-thirds majority to win.

Proposition B, a measure introduced by Supervisor Mark Farrell that would establish a baseline level of funding for city parks and recreation and extend a voter set-aside for park funding, passed with 60.35 of the vote.

Proposition D, a measure that would require the Office of Citizen Complaints to automatically investigate all officer-involved shootings, passed with 79.93 percent of the vote.

Proposition E, a measure that would change the city’s paid sick leave ordinance to parallel provisions in state law, passed with 78.25 percent of the vote.

Propositions B, D and E all needed just a simple majority of votes for approval.

Bay City News

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