Sunset District voters turned out at the polls on Nov. 6 to voice their opinions on numerous issues, including who would lead them for the next four years as local supervisor.

After several weeks of sorting ballots, the SF Department of Elections released its final results on Nov. 27, certifying that Gordon Mar would be the new District 4 supervisor.

 District 4 Supervisor-elect Gordon Mar accepts the result
of the Nov. 6 election.

Mar took the vote lead on election night and garnered slightly more than a third of the ballots cast amongst the eight candidates running for the job. His lead continued as candidates receiving a lower number of votes were eliminated via ranked choice voting and the voter’s second and third choices were added to candidates’ tallies who were still in the race.

Mar will replace SF Supervisor Katy Tang, who served the remainder of SF Supervisor Carmen Chu’s term before being elected to a four-year term by voters. Tang could have run for the office for one more term but decided to pursue other options.

Mar is a co-founder and director of the non-profit organization Jobs with Justice, a coalition of unions, religious and community organizations.

Surrounded by supporters at a press conference held at his campaign headquarters on Nov. 8, Mar said “experience” was the primary reason for his election.

“Today, we are declaring victory. We’re declaring victory not for me, but for us – nurses and teachers, seniors and students, and all the working people, families and communities who call the Sunset home,” Mar said. “I’m ready to hit the ground running and get to work for the people of the Sunset, the people this campaign was always for and about.”

The runner up in the District 4 race, Jessica Ho, called Mar earlier in the day to offer her congratulations.

Mar said he wants to work with SF Mayor London Breed on housing and other issues. He supports increasing density in the commercial corridors but did not support state Sen. Scott Weiner’s SB-827, which was defeated and would have rezoned much of the district for buildings up to 80 feet in height. He also wants to work on transportation and housing affordability issues.

Mar is the fraternal twin brother of Eric Mar, who represented the Richmond District as city supervisor for eight years before being termed out of office.

The voter turnout in the Sunset District was larger than usual for a mid-term election, as it was across most of the City. About 75 percent of the electorate voted, with about a third of the votes coming from the polls on election day and about two-thirds coming from ballots that were mailed in.

Besides Mar and Ho, the other candidates seeking the District 4 job were Trevor McNeil, Arthur Tom, Lou Ann Bassan, Mike Murphy, Tuan Nguyen and Adam Kim.

– Paul Kozakiewicz