San Francisco Mayor London Breed has less than 60 days to convince voters she's up for another four years on the job and capable of steering the city that has struggled post-pandemic to better times.
A field of formidable and well-funded opponents say she's had her chance and failed and that it's time for a change. If Breed doesn't win in November, she would become the first incumbent mayor to lose a reelection race since 1996 when former Mayor Willie Brown defeated former Mayor Frank Jordan .
Breed, a Democrat who has pivoted in recent months from touting progressive policies to conservative ones, including cracking down on crime and homelessness, is facing rivals who say she is not up for the challenge of leading California's fourth-largest city.
They claim residents wouldn't be safer or happier under her leadership. Her top opponents include former interim Mayor Mark Farrell; Daniel Laurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune; Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin; and two-term Supervisor Ahsha Safai. All of the major candidates in the race are Democrats. Breed, Laurie, and Farrell are considered to be the centrists of the group, while Peskin has been labeled the most progressive.
In a February poll , Breed was in serious danger of losing out to Farrell and Lurie. Twenty percent of likely voters ranked Farrell as their first choice, with Breed coming in at 18%. Lurie came in third with 16%, followed by Safai at 8%.
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Since then, Peskin has entered the race and Breed has introduced a series of tough-on-crime measures that have seemingly connected with voters. She's promised to clean up the streets and address the homelessness problem, drugs, and crime.
Her newest push to sweep homeless encampments aligns with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) executive order that gives local officials more power to dismantle tents on the sidewalks and in public parks.
Last month, Breed also ordered city officials to offer homeless people one-way bus tickets out of town before providing other services such as housing or shelter. In turn, her job approval rating has jumped 13 percentage points, according to a recent poll by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Money grab
San Francisco’s mayoral election has drawn interest across the country and has had millions of dollars injected into it from outside sources. It is on target to be the city's most expensive mayoral race to date.
Forward Action SF, a pro-Breed political action committee backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, announced last week that it will spend at least $2 million to promote Breed's "prosperous vision." The money was in addition to a $200,000 donation Bloomberg gave Breed early in the election cycle.
Committees like Forward Action SF are allowed to accept unlimited amounts of money as long as they don’t directly coordinate with the candidates they support.
While Breed does not have the most amount of money, she does have the most donors, with thousands flocking to her aid.
The candidate with the most money is Laurie.
A group supporting Laurie has received seven-figure sums from WhatsApp founder Jan Koum and Miriam Hass, Laurie's multibillionaire mother. She made headlines when she gave $1 million to a committee backing him in December, which at the time was the biggest donation supporting a San Francisco candidate in 25 years. Laurie has pulled in other big-dollar donations giving his backers an opportunity to get his name and blueprint for the city out to voters.
Candidate spending has also soared with millions more expected to be spent in the last two hectic months of the race.
Breed to get tough on crime, gives cops more money
Breed has been gaining ground by making good on promises to beef up police budgets, crack down on open-air drug dens, and address the fentanyl crisis, retail theft, and other public safety concerns.
She's also got a plan in place to revitalize the hollowed out downtown area and has done it despite facing a nearly $800 million two-year budget deficit.
“Things are changing in this city, and I have been on the defense leading this city through some of the most challenging times, making the hard decisions,” Breed said after winning a key endorsement from the San Francisco Democratic Party. “Now that things are starting to look good, and now that people are loving their neighborhoods and things are starting to feel good, I want to live in that moment as your mayor, in the offense, to take us to the next level.”
But not everyone is feeling the love.
Farrell blasted Breed following the shooting of San Francisco 49ers rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall in Union Square, seeking to thrust the latest shooting into the heated race in which public safety is a priority for voters.
"Enough is enough," Farrell posted on X. "If we want public safety in San Francisco, then we need change in City Hall.''
Farrell doubled down in a campaign email.
“Her failures are impacting public safety across San Francisco,” Farrell wrote. “This is why we need change.”
Farrell blames Breed for ruining the city
Farrell, a venture capitalist who served as the interim mayor of San Francisco for six months in 2018, has gone after Breed repeatedly, trying to tie just about every crime imaginable to her.
Farrell had been interim mayor when Breed was elected to finish Mayor Ed Lee’s term after he died unexpectedly in office. Farrell had not planned to return to politics but said he couldn’t stand by and watch the city crumble under Breed’s leadership.
“It is really painful to watch the city you love and you grew up in maligned across the globe,” he said.
Farrell's plan of attack has been centered on the city's homelessness crisis, crime, and the economy.
“I have watched San Francisco crumble over the last five years since I left City Hall,” he said. “People don’t feel safe. The condition of our streets has never been worse. And our local economy has collapsed. And we’ve become the butt of jokes across the country.”
If elected, he has promised to fire Bill Scott, San Francisco's police chief, and ask for the National Guard to be deployed to San Francisco to clean up the streets and disrupt drug rings.
Laurie leans into lack of experience in city government
Laurie is also hoping to stop Breed and become the city's next mayor.
Unlike Breed, Farrell, Peskin, and Safai, Laurie has leaned into his lack of experience in city government and has presented himself as the antidote for a corrupt and lethargic bureaucracy riddled with red tape.
Wealthy donors have flocked to the political novice who founded the anti-poverty nonprofit group Tipping Point Community.
A total of $6.6 million has been raised to support Lurie’s candidacy, including $5.2 million to a political action committee that favors him and $1.4 million that’s gone directly to Lurie’s campaign since he launched it last year. He declined to participate in the city's public financing program and instead put more than $590,000 of his own money into his campaign.
Public safety is among his top priorities.
"We must be compassionate but firm in our belief that no one has the right to smash our car windows, pillage our stores, shoot up drugs where our children play, or prey on those suffering from addiction," he said. "It is time to end the perception that lawlessness is an acceptable part of life in San Francisco."
When it comes to drug overdoses, Laurie said he would "declare a citywide fentanyl state of emergency to bypass the bureaucracy, surge city resources, and access funds from the state and federal government." The declaration will enable the city to hire more people faster and repurpose existing personnel.
"I will cut bureaucracy and ensure a coordinated and measurable response to the emergency we face," he said. "I will appoint a senior-level position in the mayor’s office to coordinate the inter-agency response. They will report directly to me."
Peskin's progressive policies set him apart
Peskin is a familiar face to San Franciscans and could be one of Breed's biggest challengers in the liberal bastion. He is unapologetically progressive.
“The politics of today are marked by blame and not taking responsibility,” he said in an interview. “The buck stops with the mayor, and it’s time to inject a mature, collaborative discourse that’s befitting of San Francisco.”
Even though the 59-year-old challenger agrees with other candidates that the city’s police department needs more officers, he is advocating new recruits from local colleges. He also agrees that anyone peddling fentanyl, the street-cheap but highly addictive opioid, should be arrested and thrown in jail. But that’s where his similarities with the other candidates end.
Peskin is betting liberals concerned with the city’s recent shift to the center will coalesce around him and take Breed down.
“I’ve been in recovery for three years and know how to help the city recover,” he said. “I have very real plans to address homelessness, the fentanyl crisis, and affordable housing needs.”
Peskin also believes police officers should not crack down on public drug use and has called Breed out for not doing enough to expand treatment options for addicts. He’s also strictly opposed to a ballot measure Breed backed in the March primary that requires welfare recipients to undergo drug screenings or forfeit assistance given to them.
Safai to tackle homelessness in first term
Safai is an Iranian immigrant with a master's in city planning. Though he is trailing the other top contenders in the race, Safai has leaned on his credentials as a labor organizer.
He has also worked with former San Francisco Mayors Brown and Newsom.
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Under Brown, he helped protect immigrants from losing their housing and helped bring a new teenage center and child care center for those in public housing.
When he worked for Newsom, he helped people who had been in the prison system, as well as those who were homeless, find jobs that supported local businesses by keeping the streets clean, planting trees, and fixing up public spaces.
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