London Breed
*London Breed was born on this date in 1974. She is a Black politician.
Born in San Francisco, London Nicole Breed was raised by her grandmother in Plaza East public housing in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco. Her family of five lived on $900 per month. Her younger sister died of a drug overdose in 2006, and her brother is in prison, serving a 44-year sentence for a 2000 manslaughter and armed robbery conviction.
Breed graduated with honors from Galileo High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in political science-public service from the University of California, Davis, in 1997. Breed was an intern in the Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services for Mayor Willie Brown. In 2002, she became the executive director of the African American Art & Culture Complex. She raised over $2.5 million to renovate the complex's 34,000 square foot space, including an art gallery, theater space, and a recording studio.
She worked at the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commission in 2004. In 2010, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed her to the San Francisco Fire Commission. She received a master's degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco in 2012. Following the death of Mayor Ed Lee on December 12, 2017, Breed became the city's Acting Mayor in her position as President of the Board of Supervisors. She served in this position until January 23, 2018, when the Board of Supervisors selected Mark Farrell as the interim "caretaker" mayor until a special election on June 5; Breed ran in the special mayoral election. On June 13, she won and became the first Black woman mayor of San Francisco.
She was elected to a full term in the 2019 mayoral election. In March 2019, Breed and several other Northern California mayors endorsed Kamala Harris for president in 2020; Harris later dropped out. In January 2020, Breed endorsed Mike Bloomberg for president. In December 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that Alex Padilla would succeed Harris as U.S. senator; Breed expressed disappointment that the replacement for the seat was not a Black woman.
