The run-off occurred on December 9, 2003, where Gavin Newsom was elected mayor of San Francisco.

Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, though most candidates in San Francisco do receive funding and support from various political parties.

[citation needed] Newsom ran as a moderate against leftist/progressive Gonzalez, a member of the Green Party.

It was the first mayoral election in San Francisco that a Green Party candidate took a noticeable amount of the vote.

[citation needed] The strong showing of the Green Party's performance can somewhat be attributed to Peter Camejo making an rare second-place finish in San Francisco County behind incumbent Democratic governor Gray Davis and ahead of Republican Bill Simon in the 2002 California gubernatorial election, a year prior.