In a mostly-male SF mayoral field, campaigns tout equality in staff

Mayor London Breed , who is attempting to secure a second full term, is running against four prominent challengers, all of whom are men.

The dearth of female candidates this year stands in contrast to the most recent competitive mayoral race — when Breed won a 2018 special election to replace the recently deceased Mayor Ed Lee, four of the top five vote-getting candidates were women.

Research has shown that campaign staffs working for male candidates often hire more men and pay them better than women, and that such positions — as well as those of legislative aides — are often stepping stones to elected office. One need not look further than the current Board of Supervisors, which includes three former aides.

With the field’s gender balance in mind, The Examiner asked all five candidates to provide gender breakdowns of their own staffs to see if that lack of parity was reflected among the rank and file. Despite the imbalance among the candidates themselves, the campaigns claimed much greater parity within their own ranks.

Mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie — co-founder of anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune — raised eyebrows this month when he announced Han Zou would serve as his new campaign manager, replacing Trishala Vinnakota.

Politico reporter Dustin Gardiner wrote on X that the leadership change left Lurie’s team as “ the most male-dominated of the major candidates ,” but Lurie’s campaign told The Examiner that it has a “50/50 split” between men and women among its full-time and part-time staff. It did not distinguish between part-time and full-time staffers (nor did any other campaign), and declined to specify the number of staff it has in total.

Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin’s campaign also reported an even count of men and women. Supervisor Ahsha Safai’s campaign manager , Lauren Chung, told The Examiner in a statement that its team is “predominantly made up of women and people of color, ensuring representation at every-level of decision making and engagement with our diverse San Francisco community,” though it did not provide any more detail.

Former interim Mayor Mark Farrell’s staff said it comprises eight full-time employees, seven of whom are female. Its four external consultants are evenly split.

Breed’s campaign was the most detailed in its report, stating that it counts five men and nine women in between paid staff and consultants. Two identify as LGBTQ, and five are minorities, according to the campaign.

“As San Francisco’s first African American woman mayor, [Breed] believes it is her responsibility to be a role model for girls and women who aspire to serve in elected office and in every level of government, while also serving as a champion for San Francisco and the people that make our city the best in the world,” Breed spokesperson Joseph Arellano said in a statement.

Of the five prominent campaigns in 2024, Chung and Jade Tu are the only two female campaign managers, with latter at the helm of Farrell’s effort. Peskin, who was the last to jump into the race, does not yet have a campaign manager.

Breed and Farrell utilize female political consultants — Maggie Muir for Breed, and Margaux Kelly for Farrell. Daniel Lurie is consulted by Tyler Law, Safai by Derek Jansen and Peskin by Jim Stearns.

But an exact accounting of gender parity in campaign staffs is challenging — for several reasons.

Campaigns are required to keep records of their fundraising and spending , but often report payments to outside consultants under the title of the company, not the name of the person performing the work. A payment to a such a company could be for the work of a male or female employee of that company.

A general accounting of gender diversity also does not reveal the power dynamics within a staff, which could claim a 50-50 split even if its 10 female employees are part-time interns who report to 10 male superiors.

Campaigns are also hard work and have notoriously high turnover among employees — the gender split one week could change by the next.

Gender diversity within campaigns is important for several reasons, including that such positions can be a key stepping stone to a career in politics.

Zou played a key role in Matt Haney’s successful run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2018, then worked as an aide in Haney’s office. Zou switched back to the campaign side for the 2022 race for state Assembly District 17. Haney told The Examiner following the 2022 win that Zou was a “star and one of the best campaign people I’ve ever worked with.”

Roles on campaigns and in legislators’ offices often lead to other job opportunities. They can also establish a platforms from which aspiring politicians can run for office themselves.

Such is the case for current Supervisors Hillary Ronen, Connie Chan, Catherine Stefani and Myrna Melgar, all of whom previously worked as legislative aides to supervisors.

A 2020 analysis of federal campaign gender dynamics published by researchers John Brooks and Sara Chatfield found “a reinforcing process in which women running for office today are more likely to hire women on their campaigns who, in turn, may run for political office.”

“Campaign staff are more likely to be recruited to run for office by party officials, and many current elected officials worked on campaigns at some point earlier in their careers,” Chatfield told The Examiner in an email. “So, this can be a way to form networks, build political skills, etc. and potentially run for office themselves in the future.”

Researchers found that on congressional campaigns between 2010 and 2016, women accounted for an estimated 42.5% of campaign staffers. Though female candidates hired about an equal number of men and women and paid them roughly equally, “the same is not true of male candidates, who hire significantly more men and provide them with more pay,” the authors wrote.

Kelly Groth has worked on several campaigns, starting as an intern for former Supervisor David Campos’ 2012 reelection campaign.

In 2020, Groth managed Supervisor Connie Chan’s first successful run for the board. Now, as a private consultant, Groth is helping Chan’s attempt at reelection . The 2020 staff was all female except for one, according to Groth.

“Connie was actually my first female boss in the campaign world,” Groth said. “She’s a mom, she’s been in city government, campaign life for 20 years, so she was very good about making sure — are you eating? How are you doing? She’s very good about checking in.”

That isn’t always the case.

“On previous campaigns, and I’ve heard of this on other campaigns, everyone is just running around like a chicken with their head cut off,” Groth said.

Following Chan’s 2020 victory, Groth joined Chan’s office as a legislative aide — a position she held until the end of 2023, when she left to start her own consulting company, Growth Political Strategies.

“I had noticed a trend of people working in campaigns being able to get a job in city hall,” Groth said. “I’ve always been interested in working as a legislative aide. I was drawn to it because you get to work on a variety of policy issues.”