SF advocacy group says City rejected hard left, embraced middle-of-the-road moderation in recent election
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The GrowSF Report, self-styled centrists, breaks down results from the recent election in the hipster suburb to the North and finds a pivot from extremism to common sense.
Now that ballots are (almost) all counted, we can confidently say that we have a moderate GrowSF-aligned majority on the Board of Supervisors. Here’s where each Supervisor stands:
Just elected
District 1: Connie Chan - not aligned. But it’s worth noting that Chan pivoted away from her record to run on a public safety platform. If this is a genuine pivot, we look forward to working together on ensuring the police are fully staffed and small businesses are safe from theft.
District 3: Danny Sauter - aligned. We’ve known Danny for years and trust in his dedication to making San Francisco amazing. Look out for new trash cans in North Beach!
District 5: Bilal Mahmood - aligned. We’re thrilled to see District 5 cast aside four years of dysfunction by replacing Dean Preston with Bilal Mahmood. We know Bilal will work hard to end the fentanyl markets and build more homes.
District 7: Myrna Melgar - partially aligned. We opposed Myrna Melgar over her poor track record on public safety, and her often unreliable votes for more housing. But she campaigned as the strong pro-housing choice, so if she’s serious then we hope to work together to unlock much more housing.
District 9: Jackie Fielder - extremely not aligned. Jackie Fielder is an ideologue in the same mold as Dean Preston. She has repeatedly called to defund the police and opposes building more homes in San Francisco. This seat was previously held by Hillary Ronen, who was sometimes OK on public safety, but always bad on housing.
District 11: Chyanne Chen - unknown. We know very little about Chyanne Chen. She did not fill out our candidate questionnaire and her policy platform is often lacking in details. We hope to build a relationship and work together on some issues.
Mid-term, election in 2026
District 2: Catherine Stefani - aligned. BUT – Stefani just won her race for State Assembly and will be vacating her seat. Her replacement will be picked by Mayor London Breed, not Mayor-Elect Daniel Lurie. But from the rumors we’ve heard, Breed is likely to pick someone great.
District 4: Joel Engardio - aligned. Since winning in an historic election in 2022, Joel has prioritized public safety in his district. He is in hot water, though, since his district voted overwhelmingly against Proposition K, which he sponsored.
District 6: Matt Dorsey - aligned. Dorsey is the most dedicated force to improving public safety in the City, and he’s a strong ally for homebuilding in San Francisco.
District 8: Rafael Mandelman - aligned. He’s super dedicated to addressing chaos on the streets, wants SF to build more mental health and drug treatment centers, and supports SFPD. We also expect him to be a reliable vote for housing.
District 10: Shamann Walton - not aligned. Walton has voted against parks, police funding, and housing throughout his tenure on the Board.
In total, that means six aligned, one partially aligned, three not aligned, and one unknown. A majority is just six votes, so common sense is in a really good position!
Here’s what happened with ballot measures
Prop A: School Bond - passed / we endorsed. Improvements to school facilities like bathrooms and kitchens are coming.
Prop B: Healthcare, Streets, and Shelters Bond - passed / we endorsed. Seismic retrofits and other improvements now on the way for a few medical centers.
Prop C: Inspector General - passed / we opposed. Oversight authority already held by the Ethics Commission, District Attorney, City Attorney, City Services Auditor, and the Sheriff's Office of Inspector General have been duplicated into a brand new position. Hopefully there’s trailing legislation to streamline this.
Prop D: Commission reform - failed / we endorsed. Nothing changes, there’s still 1200+ commissioners across over 100 commissions.
Prop E: Commission to study commission reform - passed / we opposed. We have a new commission to study why we have so many commissions. (I think we already know why!)
Prop F: Deferred retirement for SFPD - failed / we endorsed. Police staffing is unchanged, challenges remain.
Prop G: Housing subsidy lock-in - passed / we opposed. SF must fund a dedicated housing subsidy account, on top of hundreds of millions of existing subsidies, even in years with a $250 million deficit.
Prop H: Firefighter retirement benefits - passed / we endorsed. All firefighters now have the same retirement rules, instead of treating those hired after 2012 differently.
Prop I: Nurses retirement benefits - passed / we endorsed. Part-time nurses can now get partial pension credit for time worked when the convert to full-time.
Prop J: Student success accountability - passed / we endorsed. Spending on students will now be coordinated by one entity instead of spread across seven.
Prop K: Great Highway Park - passed / we endorsed. The Great Highway between Lincoln and Sloat will be closed to cars with the intention of converting it into a park.
Prop L: Tax on Uber & Lyft - failed / we opposed. Nothing changes; taxes stay where they are. Technically, this passed but Prop M modified the same section of law and, since M got more votes, it overwrote L’s changes.
Prop M: Business tax reform - passed / we endorsed. Small business tax cut, makes taxes on larger companies more fair.
Prop N: First responder loan forgiveness - passed / we endorsed. New recruits for police, fire, EMTs, and nurses can receive up to $25,000 to pay off student loans.
Prop O: Reproductive freedom - passed / we endorsed. Abortion and other reproductive health clinics are allowed to operate in more areas of the city, fake abortion clinics are required to post public notices that they do not provide abortions, forbids SF from cooperating with out-of-state authorities if abortion becomes illegal federally.
Read the whole thing here.
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