Year of the Black Woman Mayor, part 2. It looks like the 12 months of 2017, dubbed the "Year of the Black Woman Mayor," were just a warmup act. London Breed made history this week when she was elected the first-ever black female mayor of San Francisco. Breed is also only the second woman to hold the job—the last was Dianne Feinstein, who was appointed in 1978 and later elected to two terms.

For those of you who don't follow the wild world of SF politics, Breed has a long history in the city. She was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2012 and became its president in 2015. Breed was appointed acting mayor last year after Mayor Ed Lee died suddenly of a heart attack—only to be removed over concerns that being both board president and acting mayor gave her too much influence as a mayoral candidate. (Perhaps not surprisingly, the move sparked a mini maelstrom when she was replaced by a white man.)

San Francisco now joins a growing cohort of cities run by black women, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C., and a host of smaller locales. (The Debbie Downer in me feels compelled to note that men still lead the nation's ten biggest cities.)

As this Vox piece points out, Breed's election comes at a time of growing debate about the Democratic Party's treatment of black female candidates—as well as its appreciation (or lack thereof) of black female voters, who have long been one of the party's most reliable blocs. While some other developments—like Stacey Abrams's recent victory in Alabama's Democratic gubernatorial primary—suggest that the (white male) status quo may at last be shifting, we'll have to wait and see whether 2018 will mark a real and lasting turning point for black female candidates all over the U.S.

Speaking to San Francisco reporters on Wednesday night, here's what Breed had to say about the implications of her win: "The message that this sends to the next generation of young people growing up in this city is that no matter where you come from, no matter what you decide to do in life, you can do anything you want to do."

Broadsheet, June 15, 2018

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June 16, 201