London Breed

London Nicole Breed (born August 11, 1974) is an American politician who is the 45th and current mayor of the City and County of San Francisco.

She earned a bachelor's degree in political science–public service from the University of California, Davis in 1997 and a master's degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco in 2012.

Breed worked as an intern in the Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services for Mayor Willie Brown.

Her brother, Napoleon Brown, is in prison serving a 44-year sentence for a 2000 conviction on charges of manslaughter and armed robbery, for which Breed has repeatedly asked for clemency from the governor's office.

Breed has stated that her brother's early release from prison would be "what’s best for both Napoleon and society overall."

Breed graduated with honors from Galileo High School.

In 2002, she became the executive director of the African American Art & Culture Complex, where she raised over $2.5 million to renovate the complex's 34,000 square foot space, including an art gallery, theater space, and a recording studio.

Breed was named to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commission in 2004.

Her younger sister died of a drug overdose in 2006.

In 2010, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed her to the San Francisco Fire Commission.

She was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2012 (taking office in January 2013), and elected its president in 2015.

As president of the Board, Breed, according to the city charter, became the acting mayor of San Francisco following the death of Mayor Ed Lee.

In November 2012, Breed was elected to the District 5 supervisor seat, defeating incumbent Christina Olague, who had been appointed to the seat that year by Mayor Ed Lee after Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi was elected sheriff.

Following five rounds of ranked-choice voting allocations, Breed won by over 12 points, marking the first time in San Francisco history that a challenger unseated a district supervisor.

Breed was inaugurated as District 5 supervisor on January 8, 2013, with then–California Attorney General Kamala Harris administering the oath of office.

She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the Board of Supervisors from 2015 to 2018.

Raised in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco, Breed worked in government after college.

(The feat has occurred three times since, with Aaron Peskin unseating Supervisor Julie Christensen in 2015 to reclaim his District 3 seat, Rafael Mandelman beating Supervisor Jeff Sheehy in District 8 in June 2018, and Joel Engardio defeating Supervisor Gordon Mar in District 4 in 2022. )

On January 8, 2015, Breed was elected President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors first by a vote of 8 to 3 and then unanimously.

She defeated supervisor David Campos, who was also nominated for the position.

Breed succeeded District Four Supervisor Katy Tang, who assumed the presidency temporarily after then-Board President David Chiu resigned to begin serving in the California Assembly.

As part of an FBI investigation into public corruption and bid-fixing primarily involving then-State Senator Leland Yee, businessman Derf Butler was recorded talking about allegedly paying for access to Breed.

According to court documents released in 2015, Butler told an FBI source that he "pays Supervisor Breed with untraceable debit cards for clothing and trips in exchange for advantages on contracts in San Francisco."

The allegation was denied by Breed, who as a member of the Board of Supervisors had no role in contract selections, and no evidence has ever been presented to substantiate it.

In February 2016, Breed announced her reelection bid to represent District 5.

The top issues she identified in her announcement were building and protecting affordable housing, increasing public safety, improving environmental health, and modernizing public transportation.

Dean Preston, an attorney, ran against her.

Breed won reelection 52% to 48% on November 8, 2016, beating Preston in 46 of the district's 68 precincts.

She served in this role from December 12, 2017, to January 23, 2018.

Breed was unanimously reelected to another two-year term as Board President on January 9, 2017.

No other supervisors were nominated for the position.

Following the death of Mayor Ed Lee on December 12, 2017, Breed became the city's Acting Mayor by virtue of her position as President of the Board of Supervisors.

Breed won the San Francisco mayoral special election held on June 5, 2018.

Breed is the first black woman, second black person after Willie Brown, and second woman after Dianne Feinstein to be elected mayor of San Francisco.

She was sworn in as mayor on July 11, 2018.

Born in San Francisco, Breed was raised by her grandmother in Plaza East public housing in the Western Addition neighborhood of the city.

Breed later wrote of her childhood in San Francisco: "... five of us living on $900 per month. 'Recycling' meant drinking out of old mayonnaise jars. Violence was never far away. And once a week, we took Grandma's pushcart to the community room to collect government-issued groceries."

She served in this position until January 23, 2018, when the Board of Supervisors selected Mark Farrell to serve as the interim "caretaker" mayor until a special election on June 5.

Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Jane Kim (herself a candidate for Mayor), and others considered the progressive members of the board, sought to deny Breed the benefits of incumbency going into the election and to maintain a separation of powers between the positions of mayor and board president, both of which Breed occupied at the time.

Progressive Supervisor Hillary Ronen delivered a speech accusing Breed of being supported by "white, rich men" and billionaires such as Ron Conway.