2022 San Francisco Special Election Results

On Tuesday, San Francisco voters faced decisions on three major elections.

As extensively covered by the California Globe since major controversy first began in March of 2021, three members of the San Francisco School Board face recall: Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez, and Faauuga Molina. Parents and citizens angry at the lengthy COVID-19 lockdown of city schools, a renaming attempt of dozens of schools instead of focusing on school reopenings and students, a growing financial crisis, reopening delays, racist tweets by Collins being rediscovered, and a subsequent attempted lawsuit by Collins for $87 million all led to the recall election today.

Last ditch efforts to stop the recall had failed last year, with even Mayor London Breed and other prominent lawmakers calling for at least some of the members to step down. Enough signatures had been gathered by the fall.

San Francisco School Board Recall

Recall Alison Collins

Yes                                                    99,555     79%

No                                                    27,061      21%

Recall Gabriela Lopez

Yes                                                    94,692     75%

No                                                    31,575      25%

Recall Faauuga Moliga

Yes                                                      90,977   72%

No                                                        35,131  28%

Meanwhile, a special election for the Assembly’s 17th district  is also taking place for 3/5ths of the city. Last year, then-Assemblyman David Chiu resigned to become the City Attorney after being selected by Mayor Breed for the position. Many quickly filed, including City Supervisor Matt Haney, Chief of Staff to District Attorney Chesa Boudin David Campos, Philanthropist and Businessman Bilal Mahmood, and business owner and activist Thea Selby. While Campos and Haney are seen as the front runners, endorsements by papers such as the San Francisco Chronicle and increased community support to other candidates will likely bring in a lot of voters.

Assembly District 17

David Campos                                  22,861    35%

Matt Haney                                      24,190     38%

Bilal Mahmood                                13,598    21%

Thea Selby                                        3,865     6%

Finally, the Assessor-Recorder race is also being held on Tuesday, but Joaquin Torres, the incumbent, is running unopposed.

The results of the recall are expected by many to be a bellwether on how other recall attempts this year, such as the recall against DA Chesa Boudin currently set for June during the primary election, may go.

“In addition to an Assembly seat the Democrats need, which they should get, it’s San Francisco, there is the School Board recall,” explained San Francisco-based policy advisor Sharon Burke to the Globe on Tuesday. “Governor Newsom’s recall failed last year, but locally San Francisco residents have gotten fed up with the School Board failing at seemingly everything, the high crime, and just generally the quality of life dropping.

“Recalling the three members of the school board will be an indicator on how things will go. This doesn’t mean the city will be electing in any Republicans or anything like that. But it shows that the voters of the city have had enough. We’ll see how it goes tonight. No one is really sure what will happen.”

Polls close in San Francisco at 8 P.M. However, 23% of voters in the city have already turned in ballots through early voting.

Updated at 11:16 PM PST