Why Ed Jew Won – and What it MeansPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Nov. 13‚ 2006In the final leg of San Francisco’s elections, Ed Jew surprised pundits by pulling ahead and winning the District 4 Supervisor race. This was the first election since the City implemented Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) where a candidate who did not lead among the first-choice votes carried enough second-choice votes to make it over the top and win. Jew’s victory stunned many political observers, most of whom do not live in District 4 and are not plugged into the Chinese-American community. Jew won because of his closer ties with that community than Doug Chan or Jaynry Mak, as most Asian voters chose him as either their first or second choice. RCV hurts candidates who “go negative,” and Jew benefited from the fact that Chan and Mak spent most of the campaign fighting each other. The mainstream media completely missed the boat as it framed the race as being between Mak and Chan -- who finished third and fourth place, respectively. When the possibility arose that a third candidate could pull an upset, the Chronicle erroneously believed that it would be Ron Dudum. While Ed Jew was a conservative candidate and a former Republican, his victory was a stunning defeat for Gavin Newsom – who had held onto his West Side base while gaining support among the City’s progressives. It was a triumph for District Elections, a win for Ranked Choice Voting, and a defeat for Downtown. |