SAN FRANCISCO: Victory Fund Endorses Supervisor Bevan Dufty For Mayor

Openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty has picked up the endorsement of the Victory Fund in his bid to become mayor. That's a critical development for Dufty, who faces a mayoral field cluttered with almost two dozen declared candidates. SF Weekly reports:

The Victory Fund's endorsement signals a huge shift for Dufty's campaign, political consultants said. The group is known for its fund-raising prowess and it has a strong national donor network that helped Annise Parker get elected as the first openly gay mayor in Houston, Texas. And if it can help Houston elect a gay mayor, than San Francisco should be a no-brainer. "He can raise significant money from that community," said Jim Ross, a local campaign consultant. "This is really good." Ross pointed out that Dufty remains one of the most popular politicians, and comes from the largest voting district, which puts him in a strong position. More importantly, he can now access money from LGBT communities across the nation, which will help him make a comeback in this race.

San Francisco's mayor will be chosen by a ranked-choice method: "Under ranked-choice voting, voters list their first, second and third choices. If no candidate wins more than half the vote, last-place candidates are eliminated and second- and third-place votes from those ballots are redistributed until someone wins a majority." Confusing!

RELATED: Longtime SF Mayor Gavin Newsom resigned in January to take office as California Lt. Governor. City Administrator Edwin Lee was then appointed as Newsom's interim replacement. Lee is not running to keep the job.

UNRELATED: In 2008 I was seated next to Bevan Dufty for the San Francisco premiere screening of Milk. And all I could think was how strange it was to be watching a movie about a murdered gay politician while sitting next to the gay politician who now held that same office.