District 11 Supervisor John Avalos, 47, will announce today his plan to run for Mayor of San Francisco. A California native (a rarity within progressive circles), Avalos was born in Wilmington in Los Angeles. He graduated (with honors!) from UC Santa Barbara where he studied English Literature. After making it to San Francisco in 1989, the budding Supe worked as an English teacher and cafe barrista "before finding his calling in the human services and community organizing fields." Champion of the local hiring law, "Avalos was elected as supervisor and chaired the Budget and Finance Committee after he served as former Supervisor Chris Daly’s legislative aide," reports SF Examiner. more ›

Who's going to be the next mayor of San Francisco? That's the question on the minds of literally hundreds of San Franciscans. It's goes something like this: Newsom wants his replacement to be a man on the left. However, other people want his replacement to be men even further on the left. It's a tale that borders on almost-intriguing, folks. Scores of inside-baseball jobs, egos, provincial fame whoring, and "friendships" hang in the balance! more ›

Looking to distance himself from the (disgraceful?) Schwarzenegger regime via a more celebrity-free inauguration, Jerry Brown's swearing-in today as the 39th Governor of California will be an appropriately mellow affair. Today's 11 a.m. ceremony will feature minimal pomp and circumstance like free hot dogs, coffee, and a few friends and family. (Side note: thank God we no longer have to search for the correct spelling of Schwarzenegger every single day.) Unlike his previous two terms during the state's halcyon Boogie Nights-esque era, Brown will face a different California. more ›

Well, this is awkward - Da Mayor kicked off his week with some uncharacteristic self-depreciation, calling himself a loser in his Sunday column in which he points out there were "More losers than winners" in the recent election. (Which: duh, Willie, when you have half the Tenderloin running for District 2 6 Supervisor there's gonna be a lot of losers.) Willie says he's a loser because he supported Measure B for pension reform, which "went down in flames." more ›

It was predicted she would take it with a large majority, and it's true: House Democrats just voted to elect Nancy Pelosi as minority leader in a closed-door vote of 150-43. Steny Hoyer of Maryland was chosen to be minority whip. Get 'em, Nance. [AP] more ›

Even though the SF Department of Elections refuses to go beyond the *preliminary* stages of ranked choice vote tallying, Debra Walker and Rafael Mandelman put us out of our misery yesterday by issuing concessions, allowing Jane Kim and Scott Wiener to claim their victories in Districts 6 and 8 respectively. more ›

Love him or hate him, spunky Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius refuses to side with the average Valencia Street-dwelling trustifarian robot who eschews motorized vehicles. And for that? We love him... even if we don't agree with him too often. Take, for example, today's rant against ranked-choice voting. He's not totally into it, you see. Comparing rank choice to "a slot machine" -- an electoral process we would simply adore -- Nevius says: more ›

We asked who you wanted as the interim San Francisco mayor yesterday. A decent pool of 560 responded to our unscientific poll. The winner? David Chiu. more ›

Did you hear? Mayor Gavin Newsom will be your next Lieutenant Governor. (Who knew a complex city like San Francisco, one balancing precariously on a precipice, could also make for a perfect rung on the ladder to statewide success!) On Tuesday, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu will "introduce an ordinance that would outline the process for selecting an interim mayor." That person will serve until November of 2011. more ›

55% of you went out to vote last Tuesday, and they're still trying to figure out who won the Board of Supervisors races (good luck sweatin' this out, District 10!). The first preliminary round of "instant runoff" tabulations took place on Friday, with another happening tomorrow. more ›

Although they won't name a mayor until later this week, it seems likely that we'll be typing "Oakland Mayor Quan" for the next four years. According to reports, Oakland Councilwoman Jean Quan might be the next mayor of Oakland. Many had pegged Don Perata as the winner, but ranked-choice voting helped Quan take the lead. more ›

Though many counted her out, S.F. District Attorney Kamala Harris just grabbed a slight lead from her GOP rival in the state attorney general race. "With 99.2 percent of precincts reporting, Harris is barely ahead of Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley by just one-third of a percentage point, according to the secretary of state," reports The Chronicle. "She is leading by 22,299 votes, though things could still change: Complete results from Riverside County, a GOP stronghold have not yet come in, and all of the absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be tallied." [Chron] more ›

"At 70 years old, her political career is likely over. Congress is a funny, insular place. Mastering it the way Pelosi did is an art that is much more a liability than an asset with voters. Her outspokenness, her unapologetic liberalism, and -- yes -- her gender, made her a rich target for Republicans, especially when the economy collapsed. But she refused to back down." -- Steve Kornacki writing a political obituary for the old gal today on Salon. more ›

Former state senator Don Perata has a fair lead in the race for Mayor of Oakland, with city councilwoman Jean Quan trailing behind by 11 percentage points. Perata holds 35% of the vote as it stands, with Quan at 24% and Rebecca Kaplan (who was said to be favored among younger voters in Oakland) at 21%. These numbers don't include absentee ballots, and the ranked choice stuff still needs to be worked out. The East Bay Express reports that the county registrar plans to post an update by Friday, but that the results could possibly push into next week. more ›

Measure L, the Sit/Lie law, looks to have passed with 53% of the city voting yes to outlaw sitting or lying on sidewalks between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. more ›

With the whole ranked choice thing, and the relatively slim majorities being held, it's probably too early to call most of the Supervisor races. The Appeal has published the percentages of votes tallied for each candidate, with most votes already counted. But when you're talking about a difference of a couple of hundred votes (as is the case with Jane Kim and Debra Walker in District 6), with absentee ballots still to be counted, not to mention the ranked-choice complication, we're not going to get ahead of ourselves just yet. more ›

Well, those LA times reports may have been right about voter sentiment on Prop 19. As of 11pm, CNN reports that 35% of the precincts have checked in and has gone ahead to project that 55% of the state is harshing on the other 45 percent's buzz and rejected Proposition 19. Although, we (and so far everyone else we're hearing from) still haven't been able to get through to the official statewide results page, so react with the appropriate level of paranoia. more ›

The NYT, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Chron are calling it for Boxer, with a 4-point spread and 30% of precincts reporting, ending a bitter fight with Republican Carly Fiorina that might have ended Boxer's 18-year run in the Senate. more ›

So the poll results have been coming in since about 8:30 or so, and even though the California Results page is has been down pretty much the whole time, we can say one thing for sure: Wolf Blitzer and that guy who is not Anderson Cooper are the only commentators on television more grating than Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. more ›

The LA Times blog reports that, via preliminary exit poll data, "only about 1 voter in 10 said that his or her main motivation to vote in this election was Prop. 19." Most voters polled were mainly there to vote for governor, with 1 in 4 saying they cared about the Boxer-Fiorina race. more ›

Sacramento Bee and most of the major networks are reporting that the GOP will win the House majority. What's more, they're looking good in the Senate, but the night is still young. Unlike Republicans. Ba-dum-bum. [Sacto Bee] more ›

While SFist will bring you election 2010 updates as soon as the numbers start rolling in, you can also keep track online. Behold: California state results page is a good option; here's the link for San Francisco's results. You can also watch live coverage on SFGTV on cable channel 26. more ›

While you might still be having some trouble dragging yourself out to the polls today (which is not an excuse! go vote!), most of the candidates up for office seem like they played it rather cool last night. So to gauge the post-game, pre-election excitement level, we turn to our city's (and Oprah's) current favorite cultural barometer: Twitter. more ›

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Here are four candidates running for supervisor sporting Halloween garb. (Cadidates not featured here, calm down. We breezily lifted these images from said candidates' Facebook pages. We'll post more if and when they come to us. Send your pic here if you want to be included.) more ›

According to a Field Poll released today, Democrat Jerry Brown has a strong "double-digit" lead over his Republican opponent, Meg Whitman. "The survey found the former two-term governor leading the former eBay chief executive 49 percent to 39 percent among likely voters," reports KTVU. "It is the third poll released in the past week showing Brown leading a race considered too close to call a month ago." Whitman has spent a record-breaking $142 million of her own money in her first bid for political office. [AP/KTVU] more ›

Here's some succulent comment bait for your Thursday morning: Matt Baume, in a Spot.us pitch, culled some impressive endorsement data about Measure L, the city's sit/lie law on the November ballot. Speaking strictly in terms of endorsements, it's losing, 42% to 58%. Here's a list of yeses and nos: more ›

The District 6 race might be hogging a lot of the spotlight, just the way termed-out D6 supe Chris Daly often did while in office, and the District 8 race has garnered a fair amount of ink as well. But today, the Chron turns its attention to District 10, which includes the Bayview and Potrero Hill, where everyone's now realizing there could be a fresh, Ed Jew-style showdown over ranked-choice voting when one of the *many* candidates running potentially wins the race without getting the most votes. The race is so wide open, actually, that no candidate is likely polling above 10% one week before the election. [Ed. Note: Such polling has not actually been done, except maybe informally by individual candidates.] more ›

Disgraced ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina was sent to the hospital this morning due to an infection stemming from reconstructive surgery she had after battling breast cancer. She is expected to make a full recovery. Fiorina is currently fighting for the Senate seat against Democratic incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer, who sent out this warmhearted message of support: "We wish Carly Fiorina a speedy recovery and hope she is able to return to her normal schedule soon." [SFGate] more ›

The NYT/Bay Citizen notes several transgender candidates running for elected office this election season, including local examples Theresa Sparks (running for District 6 Supervisor) and Victoria Kolakowski (running for Alameda County Superior Court judge). Ms. Sparks would, as you've likely heard, be our first transgendered supervisor if elected, and Ms. Kolakowski would be the nation's first transgendered trial court judge -- she faces a runoff next week after getting the most votes in a June election. more ›