Levi's heir Daniel Lurie will serve as San Francisco's new mayor after defeating London Breed in the city's most closely watched local race, preliminary results show.

State of play: Lurie won about 56% of votes after ranked-choice tallies, compared to Breed's approximate 43%.

• The mayor conceded Thursday evening, sharing on social media that she'd congratulated Lurie in a phone call and pledged to ensure a smooth transition.
• Breed and Lurie were the last two candidates battling for first place after Supervisor Aaron Peskin and former interim Mayor Mark Farrell were eliminated due to the ranked-choice voting (RCV) system.
• RCV gave Lurie an advantage as he was ranked second by many voters who put another candidate as their first. Once they were eliminated, Lurie became their new top choice.

What they're saying: "I'm deeply grateful to ... every San Franciscan who voted for accountability, service, and change," Lurie said in a statement.

• "No matter who you supported in this election, we stand united in the fight for San Francisco's future and a safer and more affordable city for all."

The other side: "Being Mayor of San Francisco has been the greatest honor of my lifetime," Breed wrote on X.

• "At the end of the day, this job is bigger than any one person and what matters is that we keep moving this City forward."

What's next: Lurie plans to address the results and "make an important announcement" on Friday, his campaign tells Axios.

Go deeper

In the supervisors' races, leading candidates per the latest results are:

• 50-50 between incumbent Connie Chan and business owner Marjan Philhour for District 1
• Neighborhood services director Danny Sauter for District 3
• Philanthropist Bilal Mahmood for District 5
• Incumbent Myrna Melgar for District 7
• Climate action nonprofit director Jackie Fielder for District 9 
• Early education director Michael Lai for District 11

Californians have approved propositions to:

• Authorize a $10 billion bond to renovate or build new public school facilities
• Authorize $10 billion in bonds to boost safe drinking water, wildfire prevention and climate protections
• Repeal the state constitution's same-sex marriage ban
• Extend tax on managed health care insurance plans
• Increase penalties for certain theft and drug crimes

They have rejected propositions to:

• Expand local authority to enact rent control

Several others are still too close to call.

As election results continue to roll in, races in neighboring cities and counties are shaking out in both expected and unexpected ways.

South of San Francisco, Democrat and former San José Mayor Sam Liccardo defeated Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Sunnyvale) in a contentious race to represent California's 16th Congressional District in the U.S. House, per the Associated Press.

• Liccardo, who served as mayor from 2015 to 2022, ran a campaign that was largely bankrolled by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

In Oakland, community advocate Lateefah Simon is on track to beat fellow Democrat Jennifer Tran in the race to represent California's 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House.

• Simon, who is Muslim and legally blind, worked in the San Francisco district attorney's office and serves on the BART board of directors.

East Bay officials are planning next steps as recall campaigns against Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price appear likely to succeed.

Zoom in

The bulk of veterans living in the San Francisco metro area served in the Vietnam War, census data shows.

By the numbers: 37% were involved in the conflict, which lasted about 40 years and saw over 40,000 U.S. soldiers killed in action.

State of play: Roughly 300,000 veterans live in the larger Bay Area. San Francisco city itself is home to about 27,000.

The intrigue: Local veterans who work with VA medical centers to spearhead research in biotech are exploring the use of psychedelics in treating PTSD, augmented reality and robotics for rehabilitation and muscle tissue engineering to treat traumatic injuries.

What's next: San Francisco's Veterans Day parade, which will include marching color guards and bands like the S.F. Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, will take place Sunday 11am at Fisherman's Wharf.

After a busy week of election coverage, heading to the opening night of the Holiday Ice Rink at Union Square was a much-needed change of pace. 

State of play: Guests were treated to music from the cast of "Kimberly Akimbo" (which is playing around the corner at the Curran Theatre) as well as ice skating from figure skater Polina Edmunds and the San Francisco Ice Theatre.

• We also spotted a few members of the SFPD strapping on their skates to take to the ice. 

Zoom in: Without a doubt, the highlight of the night was seeing SF's holiday staples, the Tree Twins, meeting up with their fellow SF icons, the Brown Twins. 

• While the Brown Twins themselves are no longer with us, it was lovely to see two locals decked out in their finest threads paying homage to Marian and Vivian Brown.

If you go: The ice rink is open daily from 10am to 11pm from now until Jan. 20. It costs $19 for kids and $25 for adults, which gets you skate rental and an hour on the ice.