(BCN) — San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio appears to have been recalled from office and accepted defeat after early returns came in for Tuesday’s special election involving only voters in District 4 on the west side of the city.
Preliminary results from more than 15,000 vote-by-mail ballots received before Election Day and more than 1,000 ballots cast at polling places on Election Day showed that nearly 65% of District 4 voters supported the recall, which requires only a simple majority.
The next updated results are expected to be released Thursday at 4 p.m. and the election results will be certified by Oct. 16, according to the city’s Department of Elections. Following the approved recall, Mayor Daniel Lurie would appoint an interim supervisor until the next scheduled election in June 2026.
“My time as a city supervisor will be shorter than expected. I accept the election results. But we can still celebrate. We are on the right side of history,” Engardio wrote Tuesday night.
The effort to recall Engardio centered around the closure of the Great Highway along the western edge of the city to private cars, a move made permanent with the passage of Proposition K in the November 2024 election. The highway has now been turned into Sunset Dunes, a park that thousands of pedestrians, runners and bicyclists use every day.
Prop K was led by Engardio, despite what results from the November election showed was the majority of voters in his district opposing it.
Plans to organize a recall campaign began immediately after Prop K passed, with dissenters arguing that Engardio did not listen to the preferences of the majority of his district or consult with his constituents before crafting the measure.
Engardio has remained adamant that conversations on what to do with the Great Highway were ongoing ever since he took office in 2022. He also argued that putting Prop K on the ballot gave voters the power to determine the future of the Great Highway instead of the Board of Supervisors deciding.
In his social media post Tuesday night, Engardio addressed the issue of the change of the highway into a park.
“Sunset Dunes is a success. It’s good for the environment, good for our local economy, and it’s bringing joy to people of all ages. The feared traffic ‘carmageddon’ never came. We created something positive. Very soon, we will wonder why this was ever a controversy,” he wrote.
At a watch party for organizers of the recall campaign, crowds roared with excitement and relief once the early results came in.
Richard Corriea, who led efforts to organize the recall, gave a speech the hundreds of people packed into Celia’s by the Beach restaurant in the Outer Sunset neighborhood.
“Joel Engardio, we’re sending a message to City Hall that the west side matters,” he shouted.
Lurie weighed in on the preliminary results Tuesday, thanking Engardio for his work on the Board of Supervisors but also acknowledging the feelings of District 4 residents.
“I want to thank all the District Four residents who made their voices heard and participated in today’s special election,” he said in a statement. “As I campaigned for mayor last year, I heard countless west side families say what San Franciscans have been feeling for years: that their government is doing things to them, not with them, and that government is not working to make their lives better.”
“As votes are still being counted and the election will be certified in the coming weeks, our team is evaluating next steps for the District Four supervisor seat,” Lurie said.
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