Change of mayor in San Francisco: Daniel Lurie, heir to the Levi Strauss jeans family, elected

Lurie, an outsider on the eve of the vote and a moderate member of the Democratic Party, ran on a promise to clean up the city of homeless people and open-air drug markets and to fight retail theft and other crimes.

As one of the richest people ever to run for mayor of the city, he countered attacks from opponents who labelled him a 'trust fund guy' for relying on his family's money to self-fund his campaign.

His background proved to be an advantage. As the founder of a non-profit organisation fighting poverty, Lurie won over voters despite his lack of government experience and well-defined positions on political issues. He promised to fight corruption, hire more policemen and build more homeless shelters.

"I am deeply grateful to my incredible family, campaign team and every San Francisco citizen who voted for accountability and change," Lurie said in a post on X on Thursday. "No matter who you supported in this election, we remain united in the fight for the future of San Francisco and a safer, more affordable city for all."

Breed, elected in 2018 as the city's first black female mayor, moved politically towards the centre during her tenure, seeking to crack down on crime, dismantling open-air drug markets and sweeping up homeless encampments. But residents were largely dissatisfied with the direction the city was taking, with a San Francisco Chronicle poll last month finding that two-thirds of likely voters disapproved of her actions.

"In the end, doing the job well is more important than the name of the person doing it, and what matters is that we continue to move this city forward," Breed said in his statement.

The situation in San Francisco has made it a target among conservative media and politicians - including President-elect Donald Trump - as a symbol of the failure of liberal government.

As mayor of a symbolic city, one of Lurie's challenges will be to counter Trump's policies, such as the president-elect's idea of mass deportation of migrants.

Lurie is the son of Rabbi Brian Lurie, who ran the Jewish Community Federation, and Miriam 'Mimi' Haas, who divorced when he was young. His mother remarried philanthropist and Levi Strauss heir Peter Haas, who died in 2005. The family has a stake in the jeans manufacturer valued at over $5.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Lurie's mother donated $1 million to his campaign, according to data from the San Francisco Ethics Commission. He is the second largest individual shareholder in the industry and has a net worth of nearly $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg index.