Typically, a State Senate race with a North Bay moderate against two S.F. progressives would assure that – once again – the Left snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. But Mark Leno’s blowout victory last night proved that he is not a typical politician, and his broad appeal gives progressives a rare opportunity to forge a new winning coalition.

San Francisco’s Left mourned the defeat last night of Proposition F (Bayview affordable housing) and the passage of Proposition G (Lennar’s plan for Hunters Point.) But Leno’s coalition of progressives and liberals gave public power advocates a win with Proposition E, and moderate support for a school parcel tax (Proposition A) made its 70-30 victory possible. To be sure, Chris Daly’s leadership helped elect a Democratic County Central Committee that will be the most progressive in recent memory. But as progressives move beyond June 2008, the lesson from this election was clear: we gain power by forming coalitions with allies, rather than engaging in sectarian firing squads.

In a City whose political fights are framed as “progressive” versus “moderate,” Mark Leno has never exactly fit such labels. First appointed to the Board of Supervisors by Willie Brown, Leno came from the City’s moderate faction – with a base in the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. But progressives had long viewed Leno as the “least objectionable” moderate – and over the years developed trust and respect for Leno as he delivered on their issue-based priorities. When Leno announced in 2007 his challenge to Senator Migden, many progressives like myself gladly endorsed his candidacy.

As Randy Shaw commented at his March 2007 campaign kick-off, “Mark Leno challenges the prevailing view of San Francisco politics as divided between Newsom and Gonzalez factions. Leno has strong supporters in both camps, and has forged an independent political base that may well be the strongest in San Francisco.”

Leno’s 15-point victory last night over Joe Nation is remarkable when you consider how the State Senate District’s demographics clearly worked against him. More than half the electorate is located in Marin and Sonoma counties (where Nation served in the State Assembly), and Leno had to compete with Carole Migden for his San Francisco base. Leno won not because he held his own in the North Bay – in fact, he came in third place behind Migden in Sonoma – but because he racked up huge margins in San Francisco.

While Leno was attracting progressive support with single-payer health care and fighting global warming, San Francisco was mired in a tense battle over Bayview Hunters Point. Progressives viewed Propositions F and G as a “litmus test” to measure various politicians. The Lennar Corporation had all the resources to wage its multi-million dollar campaign, leaving many to assume that Prop F was a losing battle. When labor unions opted to strike a deal if Prop G were to pass, some progressives branded them as “sell-outs.”

In the end, progressives lost badly on these two measures – by a 68-32 margin.

Compare this with Proposition E – where a center-left coalition successfully fought Mayor Newsom and PG&E to get real reform at the Public Utilities Commission. It was a bit surreal for me last night to toast this 53-47 victory with Supervisor Bevan Dufty and consultant John Whitehurst at the Leno campaign party – as we celebrated the dream of public power in San Francisco. But that’s what Mark Leno’s coalition has brought.

Progressives also celebrated the passage of Proposition A last night – a school parcel tax that will help pay the City’s starting teachers a living wage. It needed two-thirds to pass, but a wide coalition from business and labor, the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors enabled it to get about 70% of the vote.

Despite all the recent criticism directed at Chris Daly – including within this publication – the District 6 Supervisor deserves credit for an important victory in last night’s election. Under Daly’s leadership, a new Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) was elected that will be far more progressive than what we’ve had before.

Progressives will control 10 of the 12 DCCC seats from the East Side – with Robert Haaland, Aaron Peskin, Joe Julian, Rafael Mandelman, David Chiu, David Campos, Debra Walker, Laura Spanjian, Michael Goldstein and Daly himself having won a seat. But the DCCC now even has a progressive majority on the West Side: Connie O’Connor, Arlo Smith, Eric Mar, Jane Morrison, Jake McGoldrick, Michael Bornstein and Hene Kelly are all now on the DCCC – seven of the 12 West Side seats.

In other words, a 17-7 progressive majority will now run the local Democratic Central Committee – without counting the “super-delegates” (proxy votes for elected officials.)

Finally, progressive Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval came in first place in his run to defeat Superior Court judge Thomas Mellon. Because no candidate received a simple majority, however, Sandoval and Mellon must face a run-off in November.

In the East Bay, Nancy Skinner won a landslide victory for Assembly and Loni Hancock easily defeated Wilma Chan to win the State Senate race.