Democrat Expected to Easily Win Burton’s S.F. House Seat

Wealthy Democratic fund-raiser Nancy Pelosi, supported by a solid though undecisive victory in a special election and by a deathbed endorsement from late U.S. Rep. Sala Burton, is the heavy favorite to win Tuesday’s runoff for Burton’s 5th District seat.

“Pelosi Wins,” headlines read in April after she drew 36%, the top vote in a field of 14 in the heavily Democratic district.

The 5th District is about as close as San Francisco gets to “silk-stocking” status. It includes Pacific Heights, where houses are valued in the millions of dollars. But the 5th also includes the middle-class Richmond and Haight-Ashbury districts.

Besides the two Democratic runners-up, none of the remaining 11 candidates got more than 6% of the vote in the 545 precincts.

Pelosi’s nearest competitor in the April election was San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt, a homosexual rights activist who was counting on broad support from the gay and straight communities. He posted 32.2%.

The Republican in the runoff is Harriet Ross, a city deputy public defender and former San Francisco Republican Party chairwoman. She got 2.8% or 2,922 votes.