Four Candidates, Plus Roughly 40 More, Vie to Replace Incumbent Mayor

Mayors running for reelection typically scare off significant challengers, given the power of incumbency. Not so this year. Four notables – Mark E. Farrell, Daniel Lurie, Aaron Peskin and Ahsha Safai – are serious contenders for the office, with more than 40 others also in the race. The plethora of choice is indicative of at least perceived dissatisfaction with Burgomaster London Breed, and a generalized desire for change.

Presiding over San Francisco isn’t an easy job. Spending more than $15,000 per capita, the City is one of the nation’s most fiscally profligate municipalities, one in which virtually nobody thinks they’re getting their money’s worth. It’s an imperial city, reaching past its borders to host an international airport and convey water and power from the Yosemite Valley. By population San Francisco is smaller than Phoenix, Arizona, San Antonio, Texas, and Columbus, Ohio, yet how often do those places make the national news? 

To be truly effective a mayor needs intelligence, charisma, managerial chops, endless dedicated patience, good character judgement, a talent network of friends and well-wishers, and, if not fully honest, unimpeachable ethics. Which is why many San Francisco mayors have had a hard time being effective. It’s challenging to find a single individual who possesses all these traits. Voters ultimately need to decide which qualities are most important.

Farrell, who previously served on the Board of Supervisors and was interim mayor briefly before Breed was elected, is a successful lawyer and banker. He’s a practicing Catholic, and, along with his wife, is raising three children in Laurel Heights. His campaign could be boiled down to a single phrase: enough of the shenanigans, inside and outside City Hall. He wants a new police chief, capable of instilling fresh vigor and discipline into the department; better fiscal responsibility, with a budget that matches priorities, centering on public health and safety; and improved communication between the executive and legislative branches. When asked how he’d deliver on these items, his response, in various forms, was:  leadership.

Lurie, running for office for the first time, is presently raising two children with his wife in Potrero Hill. His father is a Rabbi. Lurie grew up with wealth, ultimately founding Tipping Point Community, an anti-poverty nonprofit. To combat crime and encourage civilized behavior he wants foot patrols, which he thinks will inculcate a better overall policing ethos. To address the municipal deficit and instill better fiscal practices he’d adopt performance-based budgeting, which attempts to improve efficiency and effectiveness by linking funding to results. To stamp out municipal malfeasance he’d centralize contracting, reform construction management, and overhaul the permitting process. 

Peskin has been on the Board of Supervisors for almost 16 of the last 24 years, representing North Beach, Chinatown, Fisherman’s Wharf, and adjacent neighborhoods. He points to his own journey of salvation, as a recovering rage-alcoholic, as a metaphor for San Francisco’s chronic phoenix-like rise. To fight municipal corruption, he’d create an inspector general position “with the power of subpoena and investigation.” He wants to immediately expand rent control if a statewide initiative to repeal Costa Hawkins, which bans the policy in buildings constructed after 1975, is successful. Peskin has a complicated relationship with housing, effectively advocating against specific projects and higher density in some cases, while more broadly supporting development of affordable accommodations.

Safai, whose kids attended Daniel Webster Elementary School, represents District 11 on the Board of Supervisors, which includes Crocker Amazon, Excelsior, and Outer Mission. He previously worked as Service Employees International Union Local 87’s political director. Voters in his district appear to like him. After winning with less than 10,000 votes in 2016, he succeeded in a tough race against former supervisor John Avalos in 2020, garnering more than 16,000 votes. Safai is deeply disturbed about chronic corruption in local government, though some believe that by placing emphasis on the “city family” former Mayor Ed Lee, whom he supported, may have reinforced a culture of silence and nepotism.  Safai believes far more municipal oversight is needed. He advocated for Proposition C, to deploy audits to control homeless funds. Like Lurie, Safai wants foot patrols. Like Farrell, he’d fire the police chief, as well as the heads of public health and municipal transportation. 

Breed has had a rough road as mayor.  She was initially hailed for her leadership during the pandemic, following the lead of public health scientists to repeatedly impose shelter-in-place orders. But that strategy proved too stringent, squeezing the life out of Downtown and crushing public school children’s educational journey. Flush with federal funds, her attack on unpleasant street behavior, out-of-control drug use, and homelessness was haphazard, though intermittently successful, with many temporarily or permanently sheltered.  In the face of an almost $800 million shortfall starting in Fiscal Year 2025 she’s wielded a hatchet, asking municipal departments for 10 percent cuts, rather than using the opportunity to right-size funding priorities and squeeze out inefficiencies. There’s a belief that Breed isn’t excellent at legislative negotiation and may suffer from a short attention span.

Aside from Peskin, who tends towards a more “progressive” approach to politics, the other three candidates likely agree, more or less, on most of one another’s reform tactics, some of which Breed insists she’s already adopted. Which complicates voters’ ranked choice voting selection. If you like Peskin’s ideology and temperament you’ll vote for him, with murky second and third choices. If you prefer Breed, she’s your number one. The question then becomes, which – Farrell, Lurie, and Safai – are likely to be most effective in actually getting things done? With the election seven months away, it’s a good time to start getting to know the candidates.