San Francisco’s new mayor, Daniel Lurie, has never held public office before. What does his win indicate about how voters are feeling about homelessness and other big issues the city is facing?
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
There’ll be a new vibe in San Francisco come January. Daniel Lurie is the first person in nearly a century to be elected mayor without prior experience in City Hall. Lurie defeated Mayor London Breed and four other city hall veterans in a ranked-choice race, winning 55% of the vote. Why did a political outsider appeal to so many San Franciscans? Sydney Johnson from KQED covered the mayor’s race and joins us now with some insights. Hi, Sydney.
SYDNEY JOHNSON, BYLINE: Hi.
RASCOE: Tell us a little more about Daniel Lurie.
JOHNSON: Yeah, Daniel Lurie is a born-and-raised San Franciscan. He’s a philanthropist who founded the anti-poverty nonprofit called the Tipping Point Community. And he comes from old San Francisco money and a lot of it. Lurie ran the most expensive campaign in the city’s history, raising nearly $16 million. And he personally contributed about 8.6 million of that from his own wealth, from the Levi Jeans fortune. And as you said, he hasn’t held an elected office before, so he’s definitely not a product of the city’s political ecosystem like incumbent Mayor London Breed was.
RASCOE: So how different were his proposals than those of Mayor Breed?
JOHNSON: You know, there was actually quite a bit of overlap between Lurie and Breed’s platforms. They’re both moderate Democrats who campaigned on building more affordable housing, increasing shelter and enforcing anti-camping laws, as well as increasing police staffing and working harder to root out corruption in government. I spoke with San Francisco resident Celeste Linhares, who didn’t vote for Lurie but was still relieved someone new is coming in.
CELESTE LINHARES: I don’t think that a lot of us, honestly, could tell you, like, what the different platforms were. In some ways, they kind of felt like shades of gray. So I’m not thrilled, but I’m glad that we don’t have London Breed again.
RASCOE: And what are people making of the fact that someone so new to politics won?
JOHNSON: Well, Breed got a lot of praise for leading the city through the pandemic. But people she was close to within her administration faced ethic scandals, and the city’s recovery after the pandemic was slow. So some political scientists that I spoke to thought Lurie’s lack of a track record may have helped elevate him to the top. Democratic political consultant Jim Ross told me that Lurie’s win says to him that voters are really frustrated with the status quo.
JIM ROSS: People are looking for a change. They want a more effective government. Government that was operating in a way that’s ethical were all the reasons why he ended up winning. On top of all that, though, the ability to spend a record-setting amount of money to communicate that message made an extraordinary difference.
JOHNSON: I spoke with Chris Michalik, who said that he voted for Lurie exactly for the reason Ross said. He was looking for change.
CHRIS MICHALIK: There was room for trying some new things. It remains to be seen if he can push them through and make it happen, but that was my thought process, at least.
RASCOE: What can Lurie actually do to create the change that voters want to see?
JOHNSON: That’s the big question, you know, because if you look at one issue like building housing or solving homelessness, it’s not simple. This is a problem facing cities across the country, and it stems from a nationwide affordable housing shortage that has been brewing for years. Lurie will also have the added challenge of leading while his city faces a nearly $800 million budget deficit. Really, I think his biggest challenge will be managing voter expectations. San Franciscans clearly signaled that they want dramatic change. But the reality is that so many of these problems require long-term solutions and ones that may go beyond what one mayor can deliver on.
RASCOE: KQED’s Sydney Johnson. Thank you so much for joining us.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
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