Democratic mayors in San Francisco and Oakland fight to keep their jobs on Election Day

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Voters cast ballots Tuesday to decide whether to reelect San Francisco Mayor London Breed — the first Black woman in the role — or to pick one of her four challengers while in nearby Oakland, Mayor Sheng Thao was battling a recall.

It was too early to call either the recall effort or the reelection bid Tuesday night.

All of Breed's challengers are fellow Democrats, who say Breed has squandered her six years in office while homeless tent encampments, open-air drug use and brazen retail theft have proliferated.

Crime and homelessness also drove frustrated residents of Oakland to collect enough signatures to place the recall of Thao on Tuesday's ballot. They blame Thao, who won office just two years ago, for a long list of city woes. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sent state highway patrol officers, state prosecutors, and surveillance cameras to help Oakland battle crime.

Thao became the first Hmong American mayor of a major U.S. city after she was elected in November 2022. Oakland has about 400,000 residents and is, at times, more politically liberal than San Francisco. Democrat Kamala Harris, a former district attorney of San Francisco, claims Oakland as her hometown.

Recall proponents say the mayor “created a public safety crisis” in part by firing popular Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong. Her recall is being bankrolled largely by investor Philip Dreyfuss, who did not respond to requests seeking comment. The local NAACP supports the recall.

Thao has an FBI investigation hanging over her head after authorities in June raided her home and other properties owned by a politically influential family that controls the city's recycling contract. Thao has maintained her innocence and authorities have not said what they are investigating.

“This administration inherited a lot of challenges. However, we’ve met them head on, applied the solutions, and the data shows that we are on the right path," said Thao in a statement issued in October by her supporters.

But voters Tuesday showed frustration over crime and approved a proposition that reclassifies some misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies.

San Francisco’s streets have been cleaner and homeless tents much harder to find, but a daytime shooting in September of San Francisco 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall in a popular central shopping district reignited the issue of safety in the city.

Breed, who was raised by her grandmother in San Francisco public housing, says the pandemic challenged the city but her administration laid the groundwork for recovery. In the March primary, she championed a pair of successful public safety ballot measures to expand police powers and compel some people into drug treatment.

Breed’s chief competitors include Daniel Lurie, a wealthy philanthropist and nonprofit founder who has sunk nearly $9 million of his own money into the race.

Lurie leads in fundraising with more than $16 million raised — including $1 million from his mother, businesswoman Miriam Haas to an outside committee supporting his candidacy.

Mark Farrell, a former interim mayor and venture capitalist who is the most conservative of the group, has raised more than $5 million.

Breed has collected more than $5 million, including $1.4 million from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

More liberal Democrats Aaron Peskin and Ahsha Safaí, who are both on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, are also on the ballot.

San Francisco elects its mayor using a ranked choice voting system that allows voters to list up to 10 candidates in order of preference. It could yield a winner who did not get the most first-place votes and it can also encourage unusual alliances between rival candidates, such as the one between Farrell and Safaí, who have agreed to ask their supporters to make the other their No. 2 pick.

Breed won election as mayor in June 2018 to serve out the remainder of Lee’s term. She was reelected in 2019 to a full term that has lasted five years instead of the typical four, after voters changed the election calendar to line up with presidential contests.

Mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie, center left, kisses his spouse Becca Prowda, center right, during his election night watch party at The Chapel in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)ca

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, right, listens to a question from the media during an election night gathering at Fluid 510 in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Stephen Praetorius, left, and Alex Wolf, right, vote at Eagle Pizzeria in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Kristen Smith votes at Eagle Pizzeria on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Sheron Campbell wears a Kamala Harris shirt while voting on Election Day in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Voters look over their ballots on Election Day in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska voters supported a measure Tuesday that enshrines the state’s current ban on abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy in the state constitution, and they rejected a competing measure that sought to expand abortion rights. Nebraska was the first state to have competing abortion amendments on the same ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending the nationwide right to abortion and allowing states to decide for themselves. The dueling measures were among a record number of petition-initiated measures on Nebraska’s ballot Tuesday.

A majority of voters supported a measure enshrining the state's current ban on abortion after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in the state constitution. The measure will also allow for further restrictions. Last year, the Legislature passed the 12-week ban, which includes exceptions for cases of rape and incest and to protect the life of the pregnant woman.

Voters rejected the other abortion measure. If they had passed it by a larger number of “for” votes than the 12-week measure, it would have amended the constitution to guarantee the right to have an abortion until viability — the standard under Roe that is the point at which a fetus might survive outside the womb. Some babies can survive with medical help after 21 weeks of gestation.

Abortion was on the ballot in several other states, as well. Coming into the election, voters in all seven states that had decided on abortion-related ballot measures since the reversal of Roe had favored abortion rights, including in some conservative states.

The 12-week ban measure was bankrolled by some of Nebraska's wealthiest people, including Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, who previously served as governor and donated more than $1.1 million. His mother, Marlene Ricketts, gave $4 million to the cause. Members of the Peed family, which owns publishing company Sandhills Global, also gave $1 million.

The effort was organized under the name Protect Women and Children and was heavily backed by religious organizations, including the Nebraska Catholic Conference, a lobbying group that has organized rallies, phone banks and community townhalls to drum up support for the measure.

The effort to enshrine viability as the standard was called Protect Our Rights Nebraska and had the backing of several medical, advocacy and social justice groups. Planned Parenthood donated nearly $1 million to the cause, with the American Civil Liberties Union, I Be Black Girl, Nebraska Appleseed and the Women’s Fund of Omaha also contributing significantly to the roughly $3.7 million raised by Protect Our Rights.

Nebraska voters approved two measures Tuesday that will create a system for the use and manufacture of medical marijuana, if the measures survive an ongoing legal challenge.

The measures legalize the possession and use of medical marijuana, and allow for the manufacture, distribution and delivery of the drug. One would let patients and caregivers possess up to 5 ounces (142 grams) of marijuana if recommended by a doctor. The other would create the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission, which would oversee the private groups that would manufacture and dispense the drug.

Those initiatives were challenged over allegations that the petition campaign that put them on the ballot broke election rules. Nebraska's attorney general said supporters of the measures may have submitted several thousand invalid signatures, and one man has been charged in connection with 164 allegedly fraudulent signatures. That means a judge could still invalidate the measures.

Voters also opted Tuesday to repeal a new conservative-backed law that allocates millions of dollars in taxpayer money to fund private school tuition.

Finally, they approved a measure that will require all Nebraska employers to provide at least 40 hours of paid sick leave to their employees.

Chris McCollister, left, votes at a voting booth along with others in her district on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Neb. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP)

Voters, including Olivia DeBoer, center, fill out their ballots at a Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Omaha, Neb., on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

Nikolas Cardenas-Vazquez fills out his ballot inside the gym at Saints Peter & Paul School in Omaha, Neb., on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

Oliver Barragan, 2, center, waits for his mother, Richelle Barragan, left, as she votes on Election Day at Werner Park, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Papillion, Neb. (Liz Rymarev/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

Voters line up to cast their ballots at Dundee Elementary School in Omaha, Neb., on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Bonnie Ryan)