San Francisco officials appointed their third mayor in six weeks, controversially replacing the city's first African American mayor with a white male venture capitalist while setting the stage for a rough election campaign in June.

The last elected mayor of the tech capital and tourist mecca, Ed Lee, died of a massive heart attack last month while grocery shopping.  The president of the Board of Supervisors - which is what San Francisco calls its city council - began serving as interim mayor.  London Breed grew up in public housing in the city district she now represents, and was the city's first black female mayor.

But she is also running for mayor in the election later this year, which raised concerns gave her an unfair head start.

"The power of incumbency provides such an unfair advantage that I believe we must take this election out of the hands of the Board of Supervisors and allow San Franciscans to choose the next Mayor on a level playing field," said Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer.

Progressives in the Left-leaning city were also concerned that Breed is too moderate and would continue Lee's policies of giving breaks to the tech businesses raking in billions while driving up rents and real estate prices. 

But their skepticism for Breed backfired.  The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday elected Supervisor Mark Farrell to serve as interim mayor for the next five months.  He's a venture capitalist who represents the wealthiest part of San Francisco.  The debacle angered many in the black community who came to the Board meeting to support Ms. Breed, who complained the vote to replace the first black female mayor with a white rich guy was tinged with racial overtones.  They noted that several years earlier Ed Lee actively campaigned for the Mayoral gig while serving as the tempory mayor after his predecessor was elected to a statewide office.

For the time being, London Breed will go back to representing her old neighborhood while gearing up to run against seven other candidates in June.