Wiener defeats Kim in District 11 senate race

San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener appears to have defeated Supervisor Jane Kim in a hard-fought campaign for the District 11 state Senate seat, according to unofficial confirmed election results released Tuesday night.

With all precincts reporting, Wiener held 52.5 percent of the vote to Kim’s 47.5 percent Tuesday night and looked likely to take the seat being vacated by the termed out state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.

Wiener this morning called the result “bitter-sweet,” given the election of Donald Trump as president at the national level.

Wiener said in a statement on Facebook:

“We are cautiously optimistic, and I’m deeply grateful to the voters. … On the other hand, a man who bragged about sexually assaulting women and who wants to deport 11 million people and withdraw us from NATO was elected President.”

Wiener added: “We must not give up. … We must unite as a community, reenergize and fight.”

The race began with a heated primary battle in June in which Kim, who entered the race later, took a surprisingly close second after scoring endorsements from officials including Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Since then the race has been heated, with Wiener’s side in particular hurling multiple allegations against Kim in the last weeks of the campaign, as well as expensive for both sides. Kim has collected more than $1.2 million in donations this year and Wiener more than $1.6 million.

While both Democrats, Kim and Wiener are often at odds on the Board of Supervisors.

Kim, a member of the board’s progressive faction, drew headlines earlier this year with criticism of The City’s Super Bowl celebrations and for being the first supervisor to call for former Police Chief Greg Suhr to step down, as well as for her efforts to make City College free to city residents.

She has also made a name for herself by cutting deals with developers to include a higher percentage of affordable housing in projects and introducing a ballot measure raising the affordable housing requirement for new developments.

Wiener, who has aligned himself with the more pro-business and development moderate faction, is known for his strong support for public transit and environmental issues. Legislatively, he has introduced city policies requiring employers to provide paid parental leave for employees and developers to include solar panels or “green roofs” on new buildings.

Wiener has also embraced more of a law and order approach, backing measures on the November ballot to ban homeless encampments and create a neighborhood crime unit in the police department.