This is a time for bold change, and much of that change can stem from a new mayor. We have been dismayed by insiders playing games to protect themselves and the status quo. We know it's important to rank AT LEAST 2 choices. With everything we have researched, and seen played out publicly, we have ranked the two candidates we believe will help bring the type of change we need right now. Our #1 choice is the best choice to bring about the strong leadership and new perspective this city desperately needs.
Again, you need to rank AT LEAST 2 candidates.
VOTE FOR
✅ Daniel Lurie #1
WHY: No one who has had any part of San Francisco’s downward spiral is an ideal candidate to lead us out of it. There are too many favors owed, too many backs to be scratched and too many political futures to be preserved for REAL change to be made by anyone except an “outsider” who doesn’t need the job. Daniel Lurie is also an “insider,” but in only the best way. A native San Franciscan, Daniel has spent his entire career working towards improving our city and solving some of its most challenging problems including poverty and addiction. His deep expertise in evaluating and holding nonprofits accountable is exactly the experience we should be looking for in our next Mayor.
People are suffering and dying on our streets. Downtown and SOMA are overrun by drug dealers and Union Square is a shell of its former self. Small business owners, residents and visitors alike don’t feel safe. Public safety, mental health and addiction, eliminating grift in non-profits, increasing staff for SFPD and the sheriff’s department are just a few of the top items Daniel has in-depth and commonsense solutions for. He is not part of the City Hall insider crowd that got us here, yet he has worked alongside government to help build tiny homes, bring us the Super Bowl and raise funds for firefighters.
For those of us who are tired of the excuses and inaction from our “experienced” leaders, Daniel Lurie is a candidate who truly inspires hope. Local experts on pressing issues, like addiction, agree that Daniel’s plans offer detailed solutions that will actually work. Beholden only to the voters and not special interests, experienced and homegrown…this choice for change gets our #1 vote for a less corrupt, vibrant SF.
VOTE FOR
✅ Mark Farrell #2
WHY: A former Supervisor and native San Franciscan, Mark is no stranger to the inside of City Hall, which has its pros and cons. We support his positions on public safety, encampments, business policy, downtown revival and staffing up SFPD. In this voter guide we talk a lot about a fresh start for San Francisco and we are remaining true to that perspective. Mark's close ties with City Hall insiders and political groups gives us a pause but he is certainly far more aligned with us on policy than the 3 longtime politicians he’s running against. For those reasons he is our #2.
HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC
🚦London Breed
WHY: Mayor Breed has had many years to put forth a moderate common sense agenda for our city, and failed to do so until this election year. In addition to her years of neglecting the most critical issues facing our city, she has a history of making abysmal appointments that have an oversized harmful impact on residents as well as other governmental agencies. Two that come to mind are Jeffrey Tumlin to SFMTA and Max Carter Oberstone to the Police Commission. Mayor Breed has failed to address grift, waste, inefficiency and outright incompetence in City Hall and problematic non-profits, failing to provide leadership to our City.
She advocated for costly and irrelevant changes to streets in West Portal against the wishes of the majority of West Portal residents. She allowed special interests to change Lake Street into a Slow Street also against the wishes of the majority of Lake Street residents, and now she is championing the closure of the Great Highway against major opposition from the residents most affected by its closure.
This is a mayor who has consistently pandered to her donors and special interest groups while routinely ignoring the needs of the constituents who are most affected by her decisions. She has supported financially dubious organizations where it has been alleged that employees and volunteers are contributing to the problems they are there to solve. Not to mention the addiction and overdose crisis on the streets that has ballooned under her watch. It brings us no joy to say that we are extremely disappointed in the Mayor’s lack of leadership, political pandering to donors and special interests, indifference towards constituents, and overall incompetence on the job and we cannot support another 4 years of this.
HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC
🚦Ahsha Safai
WHY: While we appreciate Supervisor Safai’s healthy distrust of SFMTA and his declaration that he would fire SFMTA Director Tumlin if elected Mayor, it does not diminish his abysmal record on issues such a public safety, housing, and his unabashed kowtowing to unions. His political ploy with Prop B‘s SFPD recruitment plan set back the process indefinitely, further delaying progress in addressing the police staffing shortage. He also attempted to block the re-appointment of one of the most conscientious and hard working Police Commissioners, highlighting his anti-law enforcement agenda. We aren’t really sure from his record what his priorities actually are as a Supervisor but we can safely say that public safety, and moderate solutions are not this guy’s thing.
DON’T RANK
❌ Aaron Peskin
This candidate is the longest serving Board member and he has spent that time chipping away power from the Mayor’s office, blocking housing development, embracing anti-law enforcement radicals like Chesa Boudin, and making it impossible for small businesses to thrive. He opposed both the DA and BOE recalls and went so far as to put a measure on the ballot to curb the ability of citizens to engage in future recalls (This measure was voted down).
As a career politician for decades, he has contributed quite a bit to the current inexcusable state of San Francisco. While many appreciate his surprisingly centrist approach on upzoning and that he is willing to take overreaching city departments to task when necessary, his far left policies are not commonsense nor moderate and he should not be ranked.
VOTE FOR
✅ Brooke Jenkins
WHY: Since taking office, District Attorney Jenkins has worked tirelessly to repair the broken and damaged relationships with all other law enforcement agencies, particularly SFPD she inherited from her predecessor, Chesa Boudin. Under her tenure, many of the experienced and competent DA’s that left or were fired by Boudin have returned with their years and wealth of experience to bring the DA’s office back to its high standards. She has made accountability for criminals her top priority and has even initiated much needed awareness of the role judges have been playing in our catch and release system of justice. DA Jenkins has strengthened a diminished prosecutor team, repaired broken relationships within the public safety ecosystem and takes accountability for crime seriously. After the devastating tenures of Gascon and Boudin, San Francisco finally has a DA in the DA’s office! She’s got our vote!
DON’T RANK
❌ Ryan Khojasteh
WHY: This former public defender turned “DA” under Chesa Boudin has never tried a criminal case. This candidate was done before he started. With zero experience as a prosecutor, Chesa Boudin ideological pedigree and anti-law enforcement anti-incarceration biases he is ill equipped to be the City’s top cop.
VOTE FOR
✅ Paul Miyamoto
WHY: As the first Asian American Sheriff in San Francisco history, Sheriff Miyamoto has built up a lot of institutional support. He serves on the Board of the National Association of Asian American Professionals which mentors individuals to become leaders in their professions. He also serves on the Board of Guardians of the City which preserves and promotes the history of San Francisco public safety. We do have to temper our enthusiasm for Miyamoto as he endorsed and advocated for the problematic judges who ran for re-election in March. However, we appreciate that Sheriff Miyamoto has deep roots in the community and is successfully building up recruitment for his department.
✅ Michael Juan
WHY: Michael Juan has fresh ideas for increasing staffing for the severely understaffed sheriff’s department and he has the optimism and energy to stick with the job. What we aren’t sure of is whether what he lacks in experience can be compensated for with enthusiasm and hard work.
VOTE FOR
✅ José Cisneros
WHY: San Francisco’s treasurer is elected to act as the city’s banker, tax collector and investment officer. Cisnero has used his office to create anti-poverty initiatives such as “Bank on San Francisco” designed to make it easier for low income residents to maintain checking accounts and avoid predatory payday lenders. While we don’t like the notion of any elected official running unopposed, we can support his efforts to use the power of his office to think outside the box for SF’s low income residents.
A lot of people are playing political games with the Board of Education. Historically, this office draws candidates who are looking for a political stepping stone rather than those who are genuinely committed or have the professional experience to do the important work (see: Matt Haney and Shamann Walton)
We believe this combination of candidates would dramatically elevate SFUSD, problem-solve critical issues and have the best chance of turning the school district around: Vote for these 4.
VOTE FOR
✅ Min Chang
WHY: As a CEO of a healthcare company one would not immediately see the great fit of this candidate for BOE, but with 35+ years of experience in strategic leadership, operations and financial management her skill set is exactly what the ailing SFUSD needs to right its course. Yes, Min is a registered Republican, but we here at CSF look beyond Party affiliation to find the best folks for the job. Having attended public school herself, Min can speak to the importance of a strong public school system and is dedicated to helping replicate her high quality public school experience for students here in SF. Her top priorities are: financial sustainability, increasing enrollment, and raising the bar on performance.
✅ Ann Hsu
WHY: You might remember Ann Hsu from her last run at the BOE. Believing the current slate of BOE candidates lacks experience, she has tossed her hat into the ring again. Ann served briefly after the BOE recall and she was a star. She is likely the most qualified and deeply knowledgeable person in this race. After stepping away from the last election, she opened a small private school focused on a more classical curriculum. Her school serves mono-lingual families as well as single-parent families so she understands the needs of a variety of students. She is clearly dedicated to education and we believe she will be a tireless advocate to this endeavor.
✅ Laurance Lem Lee
WHY: Laurance has had his eyes on the SFUSD and all its shenanigans for years. We have learned a lot from his blog which detailed the always incomprehensible neglect and incompetence of the BOE. He has a solid understanding of the myriad financial and educational issues plaguing SFUSD and he has great solutions to address them. He for sure gets our vote. Laurance’s top three priorities are: balance the budget, improve student outcomes and accountability and transparency.
✅ Supryia Ray
WHY: Supryia is a working parent of two SFUSD students. During the pandemic she helped to support outdoor learning and advocated for safe school reopenings. She is fighting for better curriculum, more math, and she supported Lowell academic admissions. Her top three issues to be addressed are budget, safety and excellence and on-going fiscal responsibility. Hard to argue with her fierce commitment to the SFUSD students. She gets our vote.
This race is a bit more complicated because we believe CCSF is a gem that has been underserved by its Board for years, but we don’t see many candidates that we think either have the experience needed to help turn the situation around, or aren’t using it as a potential stepping stone for further political ambition. CCSF is near and dear to CSF’s heart, as our ED cares deeply about this institution and has significant understanding of what is required to restore it.
We cannot recommend any other candidates as we believe other candidates are either using CCSF as a stepping stone or represent inside interests - both types of candidates have contributed for years to the devastating current state of CCSF. So, while you can vote for up to 4, we can only recommend these 2:
VOTE FOR
✅ Ben Kaplan
WHY: Ben has a long and impressive resume including founding We San Francisco, writing a syndicated weekly education column for the Oregonian newspaper, and several other community focused advocacy endeavors. We think he’s a candidate who recognizes the value and importance of CIty College to the health and vitality of our city. Ben has solid ideas to turn the ship around including: Pipelines to key front line workers, achieve permanent financial security, annual balanced budgets, reignite declining enrollment by tailoring outreach, transform the campuses into hubs, improve student outcomes and increase community internships for students. He believes CIty College is the key to fixing major issues facing SF and we agree. City College is a gem and a true path forward for many San Franciscans. He gets our vote!
✅ Leanna Louie
WHY: She’s been on the common sense side on many important San Francisco issues in recent years, including as an active leader of the DA recall and active supporter of the BOE recalls. Leanna is a boots- on-the-ground, roll-up-your-sleeves advocate who works hard to make changes to improve the community. We believe she will fight hard to fix CCSF and has what it takes to stand up to special interests that have driven CCSF into the ground.
NO ENDORSEMENT
CITY ATTORNEY
David Chiu
WHY: Since taking office, David Chiu hasn’t seemed to have done anything productive. His failure to curb the overreach of three of the City’s most impactful commissions/boards (i.e. the Police Commission, Elections Commission and SFMTA) resulted in disastrous consequences to our city. His priorities are not with most voters. Yes, he did take on the injunction against clearing homeless encampments, but did so with a lack of expertise and skill. Instead of this City Attorney protecting our fair and legal redistricting maps, police procedure and street safety, he prioritized suing World News and Report over a local Bay Area hospital failing to make the list of top ten children’s hospitals. Seriously? We do not believe any elected official should run essentially unchallenged. This career politician is poised to sail into re-election and it is a regrettable thing for our City. When he wins, let’s do a better job holding him accountable.
Richard T Woon
WHY: Late to enter the race, we have been unable to properly vet this candidate for endorsement. But we are glad to see any challenger to the incumbent.
BART BOARD, DISTRICT 9
BART is a disaster and it is not the voter's obligation to launch the career of anyone who will perpetuate the organization’s dysfunction for ideological reasons instead of enforcing fares and preventing time theft from BART employees. Why is this important? Our elected officials are already planning to ask for more money for BART in 2026.