SAN FRANCISCO -- Mayor Willie Brown's hand-picked successor finished first Tuesday in what amounted to a referendum on San Francisco's left-of-liberal identity, and now faces a December runoff against a Green Party upstart who hopes to unite voters looking for an alternative.

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Gavin Newsom Talks About Tuesday Night And Run-Off

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Matt Gonzalez Talks About Tuesday Night And The Run-Off

Democrat Gavin Newsom, a wealthy entrepreneur and city supervisor who championed a get-tough approach to the city's chronic homelessness, got 72,940 votes, or 41 percent, with 98 percent of precincts reporting. Newsom's anti-panhandling measure also passed overwhelmingly.

"Round One!" Newsom said in his victory speech. Now, he said, "we have to work stronger, we have to work harder."

Newsom, at 36, would be the youngest San Francisco mayor in over a century. Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez, a 38-year-old, Stanford-trained lawyer, would be the only Green mayor of a major city.

Gonzalez had 35,327 votes, or 20 percent, despite entering the race just 13 weeks ago.

The last time politically fractious San Francisco avoided a mayoral runoff was in 1984, and in a face-to-face contest, Gonzalez expects to pick up support from voters who backed several other candidates who campaigned against Newsom.

"We're going to win this race," Gonzalez said. "This is someone who has been running for two years and has spent more than $2 million. We have been in the race for 90 days and have spent maybe $100,000-150,000."

Among the 14 ballot measures that San Francisco voters were deciding Tuesday were several that could be read as a test of of whether the city is ready for a more centrist image. But while voters approved Newsom's proposition to outlaw panhandling in many public places, they also overwhelmingly approved a measure imposing a city-wide minimum wage of $8.50 an hour.

Angela Alioto, 54, a civil rights lawyer and daughter of former Mayor Joseph Alioto, finished third among the nine candidates with 28,284 votes, or 16 percent, and veteran supervisor Tom Ammiano was fourth with 18,474 votes, or 11 percent.

Gonzalez, Alioto and Ammiano appeared to split the city's Left, and supporters expected them to quickly coalesce around Gonzalez in a runoff campaign to save the city from the comparatively moderate Newsom.

The city's district attorney race also is headed for a December runoff, between the incumbent Terence Hallinan, who proudly proclaims himself "America's most progressive district attorney," and Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor in Hallinan's office who dated Brown for two years when he was the powerful speaker of the California Assembly.

San Francisco was the largest of a number of California cities holding elections Tuesday for mayors, school bonds and other local issues. In Palm Springs, feminist activist Ginny Foat, who was once acquitted of murder, was among a slate of candidates running for City Council.

In San Bernardino County, emergency polling places were opened for wildfire victims to cast ballots on school and water districts, city councils and local initiatives.

And voters in Bolinas, an isolated community on Marin County's rugged coast, appeared likely to approve a measure that was more about poetry than policy -- Measure G would acknowledge that Bolinas is a "nature-loving" town, even for skunks.