San Francisco mayoral race heats up as five candidates take stage

One by one, San Francisco’s leading candidates in the race to be The City’s next mayor took the stage Tuesday night during the first public forum to include all five contenders.

Hosted by the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, the battle of ideas played out in front of an audience that seemed to lean heavily toward the progressive end of The City’s political spectrum .

Although the candidates largely rehashed well-trodden political talking points, the event nonetheless offered an early glimpse into how they will tailor their mayoral pitches for San Francisco’s more progressive residents.

Rather than appearing on stage together as in a typical debate format, the candidates — incumbent Mayor London Breed, former interim Mayor Mark Farrell, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, Supervisor Ahsha Safai and philanthropist Daniel Lurie — instead filed onto the stage one at a time, fielding questions from audience members as well as moderator Jeffrey Kwong, the club’s president.

Those questions pointed to progressive concerns about economic inequality, perceived threats to hard-fought police reforms , and a push to reform San Francisco’s commission system, which attendees said they viewed as a way for well-financed business interests to dismantle citizen oversight.

The start of the campaign’s public debate season could have played out very differently: The first debate had been scheduled for Monday evening and was to be hosted by the moderate-leaning TogetherSF Action, but it was ultimately canceled after several candidates pulled out . Another event slated for Monday — featuring Breed, Peskin and hosted by Manny’s restaurant — was also canceled.

Peskin, the most progressive candidate in the race, enjoyed by far the warmest reception Tuesday, receiving a lengthy round of applause when he alighted onto the stage.

The District 3 Supervisor addressed his housing record , framing criticism that he has worked to obstruct housing construction in San Francisco as a narrative that he said has been spun by “AstroTurf organizations and a handful of plutocrats.”

He pointed to more than 100,000 units of housing that have been built during the 24 years since he first took office. Rather than upzoning neighborhoods for larger developments, Peskin recently proposed a measure that would provide additional funding for housing by allowing the Board of Supervisors to issue bonds for individual projects.

“We are smart enough that we can grow San Francisco without destroying our neighborhoods,” he said.

When it was Farrell’s time to take the hot seat, he faced perhaps the most pointed line of questioning, with Kwong suggesting that Farrell’s proposals would harm low-income residents.

Farrell’s brash pronouncements on public safety — including his proposal to deploy armed California National Guard units to combat San Francisco’s drug trade — have stirred pushback and alarm from experts on substance abuse who say that an overly aggressive approach could exacerbate The City’s overdose crisis .

Nevertheless, responding to Kwong, Farrell said, “I couldn’t disagree with you more about where I believe my policies lie.” pointing out that public safety “affects every income in San Francisco.”

“It’s affecting residents in the wealthy neighborhoods, it’s affecting residents in the Tenderloin and I believe focusing on public safety is focusing on safety for every San Franciscan,” he said.

Breed fielded similar concerns during her remarks, at one point facing a cry of “defund the police” from the crowd.

“People are hollering ‘defund the police’ and don’t support the police department, but let something happen to you, and the first thing you’re doing is calling 911,” she said to applause.

Breed, who has led a law-enforcement crackdown on downtown drug use, argued that policing practices have improved during her watch. She pointed out that the San Francisco Police Department recently announced the completion of 272 reform measures recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice in a scathing 2016 report detailing the department’s shortcomings.

“We did that, and it took a lot of work with the community and people who are actually consistently at the table working with the police department,” Breed said.

She said she intends to continue with police reforms even as she works to improve public safety.

Lurie was pressed to discuss his privileged background as an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, and the perception that he is “buying his way into City Hall” thanks to a million-dollar donation from his mother .

“I get it,” Lurie said in response, and asked voters to judge him solely based on the choices that he has made.

“At every single turn, I have devoted my life to serving the community,” Lurie said, referencing his work as the founder of Tipping Point Community, a Bay Area nonprofit that has helped to house more than 38,000 people since 2015, according to his campaign.

“Every door that has been opened for me, I have tried to bring as many people along with me as possible,” he said.

Nearly every candidate was asked for their position on a push to introduce a ballot measure that would eliminate half of The City’s roughly 130 commissions.

Some, including Lurie and Farrell, spoke strongly in favor of the measure, arguing that the extra layer of bureaucracy leads to inefficiency and dilutes accountability.

Peskin was joined by Safai in strongly denouncing the measure.

“I think we need the oversight,” said Safai, who also decried the well-funded campaign behind the effort. “We need the voice of our community. It’s one of the things that makes San Francisco special.”

“That’s not San Francisco,” he said to murmurs of approval from the crowd. “That’s not the San Francisco way.”

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the number of people that have been housed by Tipping Point Community.