Lurie drops out of TogetherSF debate; Breed-Peskin forum canceled

The saga over San Francisco mayoral debates took new twists on Thursday.

Candidate Daniel Lurie became the third candidate to decline to participate in a mayoral debate hosted by political organizations TogetherSF Action and GrowSF schedule for next Monday.

Meanwhile, Manny’s Cafe abruptly canceled a conversation between Mayor London Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin that had also been scheduled to occur Monday.

The Manny’s event, which had only been announced Tuesday, was slated to be hosted by Mission Local journalist Joe Eskenazi. It was meant to serve as an alternative to the TogetherSF debate, in which Breed and Peskin both refused to participate.

Manny Yekutiel, the owner of Manny’s , told The Examiner that he is scheduled to host a mayoral debate for City Arts and Lectures within a month, and he felt it “made more sense to just stick to that one.”

Even with the Manny’s event canceled, it’s unclear what form the TogetherSF debate will take.

Lurie, the nonprofit founder and Levi Strauss heir, told reporters Wednesday that he would not participate in the TogetherSF debate unless a neutral journalist hosted.

At the time he made those comments, the only remaining committed moderator was Kim-Mai Cutler, a former journalist who is now a venture capitalist and was a founding board member of TogetherSF Action.

On Thursday, his campaign said too many factors in the debate — including its participants, moderators and format — remained up in the air with just a few days remaining for him to take part. However, the campaign said in a statement that Lurie looks forward to “engaging with voters and TogetherSF’s membership at the many planned future debates.”

Multiple campaigns have expressed concerns about reported links between TogetherSF and former interim Mayor Mark Farrell’s mayoral campaign, which is now managed by TogetherSF’s former chief of staff.

Last week, Mission Local reported that Margaux Kelly, a consultant working for Farrell’s campaign, wrote in a text message that she, TogetherSF CEO Kanishka Cheng, and communications consultant Jess Montejano — whose clients include TogetherSF and Farrell’s campaign — were “guiding the ship” for Farrell.

Cheng did not immediately respond to a text message on Thursday.

Farrell and Supervisor Ahsha Safai — the only remaining participants in the TogetherSF debate — represent less than half the field of five prominent candidates.

Safai said he remains committed to the TogetherSF debate, and called it “disrespectful for anyone who doesn’t want to participate in this debate not to show up.” He noted that the debate venue, The Hibernia, is in Mid-Market, where many of The City’s most pressing social issues like homelessness and addiction are concentrated.

“We have forums and conversations all over this city, and many of the groups have a bent,” Safai said. “That’s OK as long as the person who’s hosting the event is a neutral party and has full editorial discretion to make the decisions.”

Although it has cycled through moderators, TogetherSF has maintained that it guarantees editorial independence for whoever takes the stage.

Even if Monday’s slate of events implodes entirely, San Franciscans need not wait long to see the candidates take the stage together. All five candidates are set to participate in a forum hosted by the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club on Tuesday.

“We’re disappointed that the voters won’t have a chance to hear from Mayor Breed and Aaron Peskin at Manny’s,” Joe Arellano, Breed’s campaign spokesman, said in a statement. “There will be plenty of debates over the next several months. We look forward to participating in those.”

As of this writing, there are 172 days until election day.