SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Democratic moderate

candidate Daniel Lurie, a philanthropist and heir to the Levi

Strauss fortune, was elected mayor of San Francisco, local media

projected on Thursday as the incumbent Mayor London Breed

conceded.

Voters desperate to improve public safety and revive the economy

chose a candidate with no experience in City Hall. Wealthy San

Francisco, the tech center, is struggling to solve problems

including homelessness, a fentanyl epidemic and an empty

downtown.

Tackling the city's problems as an outsider was one of Lurie's

main selling points to voters, who opted for a change from

experienced politicians, like Breed.

The San Francisco Chronicle and local news station KQED called

Lurie the winner among 13 candidates of the city's ranked-choice

mayoral election, making the call before the final count. His

main opponent, London Breed, said in a social media post on

Thursday afternoon that she had called Lurie to congratulate him

on his victory.

Amidst the city's slow economic recovery post-pandemic, Lurie's

election solidified a political turn toward moderate-centrist

politics fueled by wealthy donors, many of them tech founders or

venture capitalists. Lurie spent more than $8 million of his own

money on the campaign, far more than his opponents. He beat and

will replace Breed, the city's first Black female mayor, who has

led the city since 2018.

San Francisco is dominated by Democrats, and so the choice

was effectively between moderates and progressives, with voters

focusing on pragmatic centrists.

The Northern California city has come to represent the

challenges faced by many large U.S. cities that have struggled

with an uneven economic recovery and rising cost of living since

the COVID-19 pandemic. Standout issues across all candidates'

campaigns were housing and crime, even with crime down 32%.

San Francisco has the highest median household income among

major U.S. cities, but homelessness remains intractable. Since a

June Supreme Court ruling, Breed's administration has been

actively sweeping homeless encampments.

Her critics pointed out that sweeps are temporary fixes, and

the city has not done enough to offer shelter to its unhoused

population.

In an interview with Reuters, Lurie said sweeps were a tool

for the city to combat homelessness and promised to stand up

1,500 emergency shelter beds in his first six months in office.