1983 San Francisco mayoral recall election

The 1983 mayoral recall election was held to determine whether mayor Dianne Feinstein should be removed from office.

1983 San Francisco mayoral recall election
April 26, 1983
Elections in California

Background

In 1983, Feinstein passed a handgun ban (later overturned by the state court of appeals).[1] This angered the White Panther Party, who then organized a successful effort to force a recall election against Feinstein.[1][2][3][4] The White Panther Party's efforts to collect signature were aided by recent anger (particularly in the city's gay community) over Feinstein's veto of legislation which would have extended city-employee benefits to domestic partners.[1][2][4]

Campaign

Feinstein was considered to be a popular mayor.[2] By the time of election day, Feinstein's victory was seen as a forgone conclusion.[4]

Feinstein's campaign had organized a very successful effort to encourage voters to use absentee ballots, and distributing absentee ballots to voters ahead of the election.[1][4]

Despite some disapproval of Feinstein among the gay community, they did not heavily support recalling Feinstein.[1]

Results

Feinstein only lost a single precinct out of the city's 710 voting precincts. The precinct she failed to win (which was the home district of the White Panther Party which had organized the effort to recall Feinstein) saw her lose by only a single vote.[5]

San Francisco mayoral recall election, 1983
Candidate Votes %
No 134,591 81.69%
Yes 30,166 18.31%
Total votes 164,757 100
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References
  1. Macdonald, Katharine (27 April 1983). "Mayor Feinstein Easily Defeats Recall Attempt". Washington Post. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  2. DeNike, Max (28 July 2016). "Dump Dianne: Revisiting the 1983 Mayoral Recall". SF Weekly. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  3. Niekerken, Bill Van (8 January 2020). "Dianne Feinstein's early SF years: Trove of photos pulled from archive". SFChronicle.com. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  4. Turner, Wallace; Times, Special To the New York (27 April 1983). "Mayor Feinstein, by Wide Margin, Defeats San Francisco Recall Bid". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  5. Niekerken, Bill Van (2 November 2018). "Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Tracing her career, from S.F. to D.C." The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
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