UPDATE 11:38 a.m. Here are details from Don Perata's press conference, as reported to us by Richard Gonzales of NPR, who attended:
- Perata was gracious in his concession to Quan. He will not challenge the results.
- He said he thought the election was fair but that he didn’t realize it could be “gamed.” When pressed on that he said he didn’t understand how the ranked-choice system worked. He thought the elderly in particular were confused, though acknowledged that his opinion was based only on anecdotal reports. He also said that if the election had been, quote, normal, "I'd be the landslide winner."
- He said he was proud to have received 11,000 first-place votes and proud to have won Latino and African-American precincts.
- He said that he hasn't spoken to Quan yet, but that he's known her for 30 years and any communication with her would be private.
- He said that he currently has no future political plans, though he'd be open to helping Jerry Brown, since Brown now has "the hardest job in America."