With nude protests at City Hall and a steady stream of consumer-product bans, it’s not a stretch to say that San Francisco’s politics are unconventional. But this year’s supervisorial races added a new chapter — with a moderate Democrat and former Willie Brown protege winning one of The City’s most leftist districts, and a progressive candidate narrowly leading the most conservative district.
London Breed pulled off a shocker last week when she beat out a cavalcade of progressives in District 5, which includes the Fillmore, Western Addition and the former hippie haven of Haight-Ashbury. In a race that pitted a bevy of left-leaning politicians against each other in a contest to determine who was a “true progressive,” none of them will end up on the 11-member board.
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California’s new online voter registration process added more than 614,000 registered voters to today’s state electorate — almost half of them registered as Democrats. But beyond the presidential race, experts say, party officials shouldn’t count on support from such first-time voters.
Younger people and first-time voters tend to vote more independently and less along party lines than other voters, noted Corey Cook, an associate professor of politics at the University of San Francisco. New voters also tend to vote for the president and then leave many other items blank on their ballots.
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Of all the items on the November ballot that will garner voter attention, a plan to realign the election schedule for citywide offices might get lost in the mix.
Proposition D would move the city attorney and treasurer races into the same cycle as contests for mayor, district attorney and sheriff. The measure, which was placed on the ballot by unanimous approval from all 11 members of the Board of Supervisors, has not drawn any funding for support or opposition.
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While some candidates in the mayoral race are spending money at a breakneck pace, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu is biding his time. With only 35 days to go until the Nov. 8 election, Chiu’s campaign has more cash on hand than any other candidate — about $570,000 that it is hoping will spur a surprise win.
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Today: allies. Tomorrow: rivals.
That’s the dynamic the California Citizens Redistricting Commission may create in San Francisco, by reducing the number of state Senate seats from two to one.
Today, San Francisco boasts two seats in California’s Assembly and two in the Senate, and both districts split The City down an east-west line. Therefore, assembly members from both districts have become natural front-runners for the Senate seats that their districts overlap.
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