Democrat Expected to Easily Win Burton’s S.F. House Seat
SAN FRANCISCO — Wealthy Democratic fund-raiser Nancy Pelosi, supported by a solid though undecisive victory in a special election and by a deathbed endorsement from late U.S. Rep. Sala Burton, is the heavy favorite to win Tuesday’s runoff for Burton’s 5th District seat.
“Pelosi Wins,†headlines read in April after she drew 36%, the top vote in a field of 14 in the heavily Democratic district.
The 5th District is about as close as San Francisco gets to “silk-stocking†status. It includes Pacific Heights, where houses are valued in the millions of dollars. But the 5th also includes the middle-class Richmond and Haight-Ashbury districts.
Besides the two Democratic runners-up, none of the remaining 11 candidates got more than 6% of the vote in the 545 precincts.
Pelosi’s nearest competitor in the April election was San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt, a homosexual rights activist who was counting on broad support from the gay and straight communities. He posted 32.2%.
The Republican in the runoff is Harriet Ross, a city deputy public defender and former San Francisco Republican Party chairwoman. She got 2.8% or 2,922 votes.
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