Lurie maintained his strong lead with 56.20% of the vote, while Breed continued to trail with 43.80% in the 14th round of counting.

Lurie beat out 14 other candidates, including Breed and Supervisors Mark Farrell, Aaron Peskin and Ahsha Safai. San Francisco voters had the opportunity to rate ten candidates.

Lurie never held public office, but received the support of the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board for his balance of “compassion and toughness.” The Chronicle decided Thursday that the race was in Lurie's favor.

San Francisco's elections director said 25,000 votes were counted Thursday and there are 143,000 votes remaining.

Lurie is currently the CEO of an anti-poverty nonprofit called Tipping Point.

Lurie entered the race virtually unknown, but had previously told KTVU that he had been campaigning hard for the last year and dismissed criticism that he was trying to buy the election. “No, you can’t buy an election in San Francisco. You have to go out and earn every vote,” he said.

With homelessness, high housing costs and crime as the central issues of the election, Lurie promised to provide 1,500 homeless shelters in his first six months.

During his campaign, Lurie criticized City Hall insiders for not allowing more housing to be built.

He also ran on a public safety priority platform, where he talked about fully funding and staffing the police and sheriff's departments while also focusing on police overtime by focusing on hiring. Lurie said he doesn't want police to act as homeless responders and mental health counselors. He would like to implement a co-responder model, he said.

The city currently has a homeless outreach team that visits people living on the streets and handles their cases seven days a week. The Coalition on Homelessness called on the new government to “treat homeless people with dignity and prioritize accommodation over punitive measures.” They said there are currently 700 supportive housing units vacant and would like to fill them in the first 60 days of a new administration.

Lurie has spoken about his ambitious goal of hiring 425 officers in his first three years in office.

Lurie's press team said the “mayor-elect” would be available to make an important announcement on Friday.

“I am deeply grateful to my incredible family, my campaign team and all San Franciscans who voted for accountability, service and change. No matter who you supported in this election, we stand united in the fight for San Francisco's future and a safer, better future.” “To be an affordable city for all,” Lurie's statement reads.

Shortly after the Department of Elections announced the second-round results, Mayor Breed offered a concession in a social media post. “Today I called Daniel Lurie and congratulated him on his victory in this election. In the coming weeks, my staff and I will work to ensure a smooth transition as he accepts the honor of serving as Mayor of San Francisco,” Breed’s message read.

Breed said being mayor was the greatest honor of her life.

You can read her full message here:

Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University, noted that widespread sentiment among voters may have blamed Breed for the post-pandemic economy as well as perceptions of brazen crime and shoplifting in the city. McDaniel also said that this is a “year of change” and that Lurie, the candidate with no political history in San Francisco, represents a “change” candidate since he has never held elected office before. He said he ran a well-run, well-financed campaign that seemed to understand how ranked-choice voting works.

Breed, a San Franciscan native, served on the Board of Supervisors before becoming mayor in 2017 when Mayor Ed Lee died suddenly during his term. She addressed reporters early Thursday evening and answered their questions.

She focused on moving the city forward to ensure a smooth transition. When asked if this was the hardest speech she has ever had to give, she replied: No.

“You know, there was other tougher talk,” Breed said. “I had to make the difficult decision to close this city during the global pandemic. I had to deal with the uprising…the racial discrimination that occurred after the tragic death of George Floyd. I had to go out in the middle of the night” and tell people that Mayor Ed Lee had passed away.

She continued that the mayor's office is bigger than one person.

Breed was asked what the difference was between her and Lurie. She turned around and said that she had made a difference in the city through her leadership skills.

“I focused on and invested aggressively in things that traditionally would never have been encouraged in the city,” Breed said. I've always tried to make sure San Francisco comes first.

The mayor was asked about her previous criticism of Lurie's campaign spending and about $6 million of his personal money he used. She had previously described him as “one of the most dangerous people on stage” in a debate in which she had addressed his inexperience.

She said she doesn't want to look back on the campaign and that it is important and in the city's best interest to move forward.

“We can’t look back,” Breed said. “The voters of San Francisco made their decision and I, as mayor of San Francisco, have always respected the voters and the decisions they made.”

Regarding her decision to concede, Breed said it appeared the votes were headed in a similar direction. “It doesn’t look like there’s a chance. Unless a miracle happens, mathematically I don't see anything being different than what we've seen.” Breed said she waited to make the decision, but also thinks it's important for the people of San Francisco not to wait let.

Breed said she is proud of the state of the city, adding that San Francisco has one of the lowest crime rates in more than a decade. “We have built the infrastructure to move San Francisco forward.”

The mayor said her advice to the next mayor is to “put San Franciscans first.”

KTVU's Christien Kafton, Amber Lee and Greg Lee contributed to this report.