Dean Preston, the incumbent supervisor of San Francisco's District 5 and a self-described Democratic Socialist has officially conceded the race for his seat to challenger Bilal Mahmood, who leads Preston by 1,339 votes in the latest count.

Preston, who was elected in 2019, drew the ire of tech billionaires and YIMBY advocates throughout his time in office over his advocacy for progressive policies such as rent control and higher taxes on landlords.

His loss reflects a recent rightward swing throughout the city, where moderate candidates have found success across the ballot at the expense of progressives, even as more moderate ballot measures have struggled to pass. Jackie Fielder, a progressive who won the District 9 seat last week, is so far the lone exception, while Supervisor Connie Chan, a progressive, remains in a tight race against moderate challenger Marjan Philhour for District 1, with Chan now leading with less than 1,000 votes.

“I’ve spent a lifetime fighting for underdogs, often against the odds,” Preston said in a statement posted on Instagram Sunday. “I wouldn’t change a minute of it. We can’t win every battle, but we’ll continue the fight.”

Preston's replacement, Mahmood, is a tech-sector executive and former policy analyst for the Obama White House. His campaign, funded largely by Silicon Valley moguls, emphasized a willingness to cut red tape around the construction of housing and a more aggressive crackdown on the city's longstanding fentanyl crisis.

“I think it’s representative of a broad coalition campaign that we’ve built,” said Mahmood in a statement to Mission Local. “And clearly it’s appealed to both progressives and moderates in the district.”  

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