I Won Second Place With 7.2% of the Vote
By Michael Petrelis

The results are in and I'm damn proud to have received 1,485 of ballots cast in the San Francisco District 8 race for Supervisor, and winning the second place of the campaign.

Election results are for all intents and purposes complete, with 98.57% of the vote in our district counted, and my percentage of votes comes to 7.2%.

It's been a fantastic and long trip running for elective office, and my sincerest thanks go out to everyone who voted for me or in anyway lent support and friendship during the almost year-long campaign. I couldn't have done this without you!

Special gratitude and love to my great and wonderful husbear Mike Merrigan, who had to put up with all the ups and downs of this DIY Democracy effort and kept me laughing and healthy.

I spent the final hours of this Election Day at the David Campos party at the El Rio, my first time there, and glad I schmoozed with everyone. Campos got my vote and at one point told me he was glad I ran against the incumbent and I thanked him for saying that.

Here are photos of me with friends and folks who gave me their votes.

Sean Strub, Poz Mag Founder, Donates to #VotePetrelis
By Michael Petrelis

My friend Sean Strub published a memoir this year entitled "Body Counts" and he graciously mentioned my unique brand of HIV advocacy on the first page, which was an honor to be included in his personal history book.

Sean has spent decades advocating for the rights of LGBT folks and people living with AIDS, and many know him as the founder of Poz magazine. We met back during the dark plague years when we both were members of ACT UP/New York.

Today he made a generous contribution to our DIY Democracy campaign of $100, as a show of support for me individually and the ideal of more HIV positive people running for elective office.

It's my hope that you'll be inspired by his donation and today make a contribution to my campaign for District 8 Supervisor. All the info you need to do this is in the About box on the left of this Facebook page.

There are only three weeks left until Election Day and a donation of any amount from $5 to the maximum allowed of $500, would go a long way toward assisting me in garnering votes. Please give today.

And thank you, Sean, for the monetary support and friendship!

#VotePetrelis Posters Now Up on District 8 Streets
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Our fabulous DIY Democracy campaign posters went up on October 10th on select utility poles around District 8 and we're hoping they attract the eyeballs of voters.

Several posters were taped up near pedestrian crosswalks, where people may spend a few extra moments reading the posters before crossing the street.

If you wish to donate money to increase the number of posters we can display with just over three-weeks left before Election Day, please do so using PayPal or sending a check to our post office box.

Thanks, to all our donors who made this signage possible!

Diverse Crowd at Yes on G Office Opening
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Momentum for Prop G, the anti-speculation housing tax measure, and the #VotePetrelis campaign gained steam at last week's party for the Yes on G office.

A beautifully diverse group of folks - Hispanics, LGBT people, artists, low and moderate income renters, blacks and whites, musicians, Asians - showed up to learn more about Yes on G.

We handed out lots of our cards and union-made buttons, and received heartfelt wishes of good luck in our District 8 Supervisorial effort from everyone we spoke with.

There were a few very short speeches encouraging everyone to display Yes on G signs in their home windows and talk with our friends and neighbors about voting yes on this prop. A good time was had by all.

We lobbied people to follow the https://twitter.com/YesOnG_SF feed and to spread the hashtag #YesonG far and wide on Twitter.

Here are our photos from the party.

Early Voting Happening Now at City Hall
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

This video was made recently to educate District 8 and all San Francisco voters that early voting started on Monday, October 6th down at the Department of Elections inside City Hall.

Everyone on the #VotePetrelis team urges you to vote early, make sure you're registered to vote and if you haven't signed up to vote yet or you've moved, you have until October 20th to register.

For more information about everything to do with this year's election, please visit the department's web site: http://www.sfgov2.org/index.aspx?page=599.

Like every other SF Giants fan, we're very happy our team won its long game the other night in Washington, DC, against the Nationals. After 18 innings of play, it now enters the history books as the longest postseason game on record.

Check out the colorful video which includes a shoutout to the Giants.