District 3: Peskin apparently heading back to board

Aaron Peskin hugs his wife Nancy Shanahan, center, at the election party for Aaron Peskin and his campaign for supervisor of District 3 at Club Fugazzi in North Beach on election day in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. less Aaron Peskin hugs his wife Nancy Shanahan, center, at the election party for Aaron Peskin and his campaign for supervisor of District 3 at Club Fugazzi in North Beach on election day in San Francisco, Calif., ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 37 Caption Close District 3: Peskin apparently heading back to board 1 / 37 Back to Gallery

Former Supervisor Aaron Peskin was the apparent winner in the race to reclaim his District Three seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday night, edging out Supervisor Julie Christensen, who was appointed to the seat by Mayor Ed Lee in January.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, but an unknown number of mail-in and provisional ballots still outstanding, Peskin had 53 percent of the vote while Christensen had 43 percent. Perennial candidate Wilma Pang was trailing with 3 percent.

The race is subject to the city’s ranked-choice voting system in which the third-place finisher, Pang, will be dropped and her second-place votes distributed to the two main contenders, but only if Peskin’s total falls below 50 percent after all remaining ballots are counted.

With no big-name competition challenging Lee, the race to represent North Beach, Chinatown, Telegraph Hill and the Financial District was viewed as a referendum on the economic boom and resulting affordability crisis that have dramatically reshaped San Francisco during Lee’s five-year tenure.

The winner will determine the political direction of the board, with a Peskin win tipping it to a 6-5 majority in favor of the progressive bloc.

Peskin’s party

Peskin’s election night party was at Club Fugazi, which normally hosts the kooky revue “Beach Blanket Babylon.” As returns started coming in, the line to get into the theater stretched around the corner. Inside, people could get two free drinks, chow mein, fried rice and fortune cookies with messages reading, “Thanks for all your support, Aaron Peskin.”

Peskin addressed a crowd of supporters, flanked by former Superior Court Judge Quentin Kopp and former City Attorney Louise Renne.

“We’ve run the campaign on the issues, not run a campaign on personalities,” a jubilant Peskin said, shortly before getting a pinch on his cheek from his mother, Tsipora. “It was not about putting me back in City Hall — it was about putting all of us back in City Hall.”

He told his supporters, “We did it.”

A third of a mile away, a group about a quarter the size of Peskin’s gathered with Christensen at Monroe, an upscale lounge. The mayor dropped by briefly, and Christensen chatted with her supporters before the disappointing results came in and the party fizzled by 10:30 p.m. Christensen declined to concede the race.

“We’ll wait for these last little bits to see what happens,” she said.

The supervisor sat at the bar with her mother, also named Julie, who had her arm around her. Christensen said she gave the race “her heart and soul.”

“I’ll miss getting stuff done,” she said. “I’ll miss my colleagues on the board and my good friends — that was the best part.”

Lee appointed neighborhood activist Christensen to represent District Three after Supervisor David Chiu was elected to the Assembly. The appointment was a controversial choice because Lee’s longtime friend and political ally, Chinatown political power broker Rose Pak, had been pushing Cindy Wu, deputy director of the powerful Chinatown Community Development Center and a City Planning commissioner. Pak fell out with Lee over the appointment and backed Peskin in the race.

Lee ‘paying attention’

Lee made it clear from the get-go that a Peskin win would be unacceptable. He told a group of business, labor and tech leaders in a private meeting last spring that he was “paying attention” — some in attendance said the implication was that city favors would dry up for anybody who backed the former supervisor.

Peskin served on the board from 2001 to 2009, during which he was known for being a smart, prolific supervisor but also for threatening his opponents and making drunken late-night calls. The Christensen campaign repeatedly warned that a Peskin win would mean a return to those days of nasty infighting at City Hall, but Peskin was on his best behavior throughout the race and said he has grown and matured with age.

“I think it’s good to be passionate in politics, but I’ve learned not to take things so personally,” he told The Chronicle several weeks ago. “You can use honey as well as vinegar.”

Peskin’s supporters said City Hall could use some more anger and that someone needs to stand up to Lee, whom they view as being too closely aligned with developers and real estate and tech interests. Peskin received the endorsements of the tenants union, the teachers union, some other labor groups and many artists and writers.

Like Peskin, Christensen is a longtime North Beach resident who gained notice from City Hall for her determination in working on local projects, including rebuilding the North Beach Library and Joe DiMaggio Playground.

Since being challenged by Peskin, Christensen has campaigned tirelessly to raise money and her profile, and she made the race much tighter than observers initially expected. She was endorsed by Lee; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom; the San Francisco Democratic Party; the Police Officers Association; and others.

Newcomer’s gaffes

The political newcomer has made the news, however, for several gaffes, such as referring to Chinatown residents as “lower-class” instead of “low-income” and for saying Supervisor Jane Kim tells stories about tenants being evicted — “most of which have not taken place.” The latter sparked its own hashtag on Twitter: #DearJulieImReal, with tweets about real evictions.

Peskin and Christensen were longtime friends but have clashed mightily during the campaign. The Christensen campaign had accused Peskin of harassing and threatening women. The district attorney is investigating reports of voter fraud by people supporting Peskin in low-income housing in Chinatown.

Christensen had been slammed for being too aggressive in her campaigning, including yelling at people who support Peskin or taking down his campaign signs without permission. An ethics complaint was filed against her by a Peskin supporter for featuring a uniformed police officer on her campaign website. City law prohibits city employees from engaging in political activities while wearing their uniforms.

Heather Knight and Steve Rubenstein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: hknight@sfchronicle.com, srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf, @steverubesf