State Senator Leland Yee Running for Mayor of San Francisco

Last week, there was a lot of election news that I tried to wrap-up, including Jean Quan winning the Oakland mayoral race, California race. One race which I didn’t get a chance to follow-up on was that of California State Senator Leland Yee running for the mayor of San Francisco in 2011, to replace outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom (who won the Lt. Governor’s race and will be vacating his office the first week of January). Well, technically, Yee is announcing an “exploratory committee” — another way of saying that means he is running.

In the mean time, there is a lot of posturing to see who will be appointed the interim mayor prior to the special election, as the Board of Supervisors consider what criteria and whom might be appointed. Technically, if Mayor Newsom or the Board of Supervisors appoint no one upon Newsom’s departure, President of the Board of Supervisors David Chiu would become interim mayor; in either the case of Chiu or Yee, San Francisco might have its first Asian American mayor. Imagine that: San Francisco and Oakland having Asian American mayors.  Not bad, considering Asian Americans have been part of the San Francisco Bay Area community for over 150 years and make up up to 35% of the population in some communities. What’s next – an Asian American mayor in San Jose? Trifecta!