Mayor of San Francisco
The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch. The Mayor serves a four-year term and is limited to two successive terms. Because of San Francisco's status as a consolidated city-county, the mayor also serves as the head of government of the county; both entities have been governed together by a combined set of governing bodies since 1856.
There have been 45 individuals sworn into office. John W. Geary, elected in 1850, was the first mayor of the city. Charles James Brenham, who served as mayor during the 1850s, is the only person who has served two non-consecutive terms.
The current mayor is former District 5 Supervisor and President of the Board of Supervisors London Breed, who won a special election following the death of Mayor Ed Lee on December 12, 2017. Breed served out the remainder of Lee's uncompleted term, after which she is eligible to run for two full terms of her own including the 2019 San Francisco mayoral election which she won.
Elections
The mayor of San Francisco is elected every four years; elections take place one year before United States presidential elections on election day in November. Candidates must live and be registered to vote in San Francisco at the time of the election. The mayor is usually sworn in on the January 8 following the election. The next election for a full mayoral term will be in 2019.Under the California constitution, all city elections in the state are conducted on a non-partisan basis. As a result, candidates' party affiliations are not listed on the ballot, and multiple candidates from a single party can run in the election since a primary election is not held.
Mayoral elections were originally run under a two-round system. If no candidate received a simple majority of votes in the general election, the two candidates who received the most votes competed in a second runoff election held several weeks later. In 2002, the election system for city officials was overhauled as a result of a citywide referendum. The new system, known as instant-runoff voting, allows voters to select and rank three candidates based on their preferences. If no one wins more than half of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and second-choice votes are counted until a candidate captures the majority. This eliminates the need to hold a separate runoff election and saves money. This was first implemented in the 2004 Board of Supervisors election after two years of preparation. In 2007, the new system was implemented in the mayoral election for the first time.
Salary and benefits
As of 2017, the mayor is paid an annual salary of $297,386, the highest mayoral salary in the United States. Nine city public employees earned higher salaries than the mayor, including the chief investment officer and the managing director of the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System, who oversee the city's pension plan.Unlike a few other American cities, the San Francisco mayor does not have an official residence; in the 1990s, Mayor Willie Brown unsuccessfully pushed to acquire the Yerba Buena Island mansion formerly held used by U.S. Navy admirals as a ceremonial residence for the mayor.
Duties and powers
The mayor has the responsibility to enforce all city laws, administer and coordinate city departments and intergovernmental activities, set forth policies and agendas to the Board of Supervisors, and prepare and submit the city budget at the end of each fiscal year. The mayor has the powers to either approve or veto bills passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, participate in meetings of the Board of Supervisors and its committees, appoint a replacement to fill vacancies in all city elected offices until elections, appoint a member of the Board as acting mayor in his/her absence, and to direct personnel in the case of emergency.Succession
If the mayor dies in office, resigns, or is unable to carry out his/her duties and he/she did not designate an acting mayor, the president of the Board of Supervisors becomes acting mayor until the full Board select a person to fill the vacancy and finish the previous mayoral term. This has happened seven times: James Otis died in office and was succeeded by George Hewston, Eugene Schmitz was removed and succeeded by Charles Boxton, Charles Boxton resigned and was succeeded by Edward Robeson Taylor, James Rolph resigned and was succeeded by Angelo Rossi, George Moscone was assassinated and was succeeded by Dianne Feinstein, Gavin Newsom resigned and was succeeded by Ed Lee, and Lee died in office and was succeeded by Mark Farrell.List
To date, 44 individuals have served as San Francisco Mayor. There have been 45 mayoralties due to Charles James Brenham's serving two non-consecutive terms: he is counted chronologically as both the second and fourth mayor. The longest term was that of James Rolph, who served over 18 years until his resignation to become the California governor. The length of his tenure as mayor was largely due to his popularity. During his term, San Francisco saw the expansion of its transit system, the construction of the Civic Center and the hosting of the World's Fair. The shortest term was that of Charles Boxton, who served only eight days before resigning from office. Three mayors have died in office: Otis died from illness, Moscone was assassinated, and Lee died from cardiac arrest. Dianne Feinstein and London Breed are the only women who have served as mayor, both of them by succession and by election; Willie Brown and London Breed are the only African Americans to serve to date; Ed Lee is the only East Asian American to serve as mayor; and three mayors have West Asian ancestry: Washington Bartlett, Adolf Sutro and Dianne Feinstein. Thirteen mayors are native San Franciscans: Levi Richard Ellert, James D. Phelan, Eugene Schmitz, James Rolph, Elmer Robinson, John F. Shelley, Joseph Alioto, George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein, Frank Jordan, Gavin Newsom, Mark Farrell, and London Breed. Four mayors are foreign-born: Frank McCoppin and P.H. McCarthy, Adolph Sutro and George Christopher.This list does not include acting mayors, of which there have been many, as an acting mayor is typically appointed by the mayor whenever he or she will be out of the city.
Other offices held
The following is a list of congressional, gubernatorial and other offices held by mayors, before or after their term.| Mayor | Mayoral term | Other offices held | References |
| 1850–1851 | Territorial Governor of Kansas Governor of Pennsylvania | ||
| 1854–1855 | Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts | ||
| 1855–1856 | California State Senator | ||
| 1881–1883 | California State Assemblyman | ||
| 1883–1887 | California State Senator Governor of California | ||
| 1897–1902 | U.S. Senator from California | ||
| 1912–1931 | Governor of California* | ||
| 1964–1968 | California State Senator U.S. Representative from California | ||
| 1976–1978 | California State Senator | ||
| 1978–1988 | U.S. Senator from California | ||
| 1988–1992 | California State Assemblyman | ||
| 1996–2004 | California State Assemblyman | ||
| 2004–2011 | Lieutenant Governor of California* Governor of California |
Living former mayors of San Francisco
As of July 2018, six former San Francisco mayors are alive, the oldest being Dianne Feinstein. The most recent mayor to die is Ed Lee, on 12 December 2017.| Mayor | Mayoral term | Date of birth |
| 1978–1988 | ||
| 1988–1992 | ||
| 1992–1996 | ||
| 1996-2004 | ||
| 2004–2011 | ||
| 2018 |