Jean Quan has been elected Oakland’s next mayor, becoming the city’s first

Jean Quan has been elected Oakland’s next mayor, becoming the city’s first female mayor and the first Asian American woman to lead a major U.S. city, in what’s being considered an upset win over a heavily favored opponent.

The city councilwoman received 51 per cent of the vote, compared with 49 per cent for former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, Alameda County elections officials said Wednesday. Quan, 61, replaces outgoing Mayor Ronald Dellums, who chose not to seek a second term.

The results followed a days long process of tallying votes under a new “ranked-choice” system that allowed voters to list their first, second and third-place candidates.

Quan, an Oakland native and former school board member, also won despite losing out on key endorsements from the Bay Area’s two largest newspapers, the Oakland Tribune (Kaplan) and the San Francisco Chronicle (Perata).

See our interview with Jean Quan last December. We knew she would win!