Supervisor Alan Wong speaks to supporters while Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Myrna Melgar visit his election party at Hole in the Wall Pizza on Tuesday. Wong was appointed by Lurie and won the special election to finish the term of recalled former Supervisor Joel Engardio.
Camille Cohen/For the S.F. Chronicle
With support from a wildly popular mayor, San Francisco Supervisor Alan Wong was viewed by many as a front-runner in the election to retain his seat in District 4.
So it perhaps wasn’t a surprise that Wong won Tuesday’s special election. What was astonishing was his margin of victory over four candidates: Wong got nearly 50% of the vote in the first round of ranked-choice voting and cleared almost 70% in the final round counts of early results.
“If any consultant you talk to said they were predicting this, they’re lying,” San Francisco political consultant David Ho told me, comparing Wong’s win to how Rep. Nancy Pelosi would routinely trounce Republican opponents.
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District 4 overwhelmingly cast ballots for Wong even though he voted for Mayor Daniel Lurie’s “family zoning” plan, which passed and will allow taller and denser housing near transit. The conventional wisdom is that the many politically moderate homeowners in District 4’s Outer Sunset and Parkside neighborhoods are opposed to new housing.
Wong’s opponents were against family zoning and used it as a campaign issue.
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So, how did Wong overcome his housing position?
Lurie’s approval rating is 74%, according to a recent Chronicle poll, and his endorsement was influential because June primaries typically have low voter turnout, which tends to favor more center-right candidates and propositions.
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“The idea that the family zoning vote was not yet or was not at all a super salient negative … that’s the major takeaway from last night,” San Francisco State political science Professor Jason McDaniel said in an interview about Tuesday’s election. “The mayor’s coattails are real, and we saw that in the Alan Wong race.”
The mayor’s backing — and the $723,000 that outside groups spent to support Wong — seemed to gloss over any disagreements on housing policy for many voters.
Lurie appointed Wong after District 4 voters recalled former Supervisor Joel Engardio last year over his support for closing the Great Highway to car traffic. Ho and McDaniel said that without the mayor’s support, Wong might not have won the right to serve the rest of Engardio’s term, which ends in January.
Ho said he could not recall the last time a mayor campaigned door to door for a candidate as he did for Wong and District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, who was appointed by former Mayor London Breed.
“Lurie’s people not only put resources out, but he was personally out there often,” Ho said.
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Without backing from Lurie, McDaniel said it would have been a tougher campaign for Wong. “He would have had to have been much more charismatic.”
If Wong wants to keep his seat beyond January, he’ll have to run and win again in the November election. A higher voter turnout might change the election dynamics, but Wong’s resounding win on Tuesday could scare off challengers.
As a resident, I believe that would be good for the neighborhood. There’s been too much divisiveness recently over the closure of the Great Highway for Sunset Dunes park, a recall and a special election. It’s time for a supervisor to be in place and represent the community.
I’m a member of the editorial board, and we concluded that Wong is the best candidate to navigate the sometimes diverging needs of the neighborhood and the rest of the city. Let’s give him a chance to do his job.
Representation matters
Wong’s victory means District 4 will once again be represented by a Chinese American supervisor. The district’s population is about half Asian American, and most of them are Chinese. If you missed last week’s newsletter, see what I wrote about why representation is important.
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Housing matters
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District 2 Supervisor Sherrill also cruised to victory in a special election to remain the representative for the Marina, Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights, another area that, like District 4, is historically opposed to new housing. Sherrill also won despite his support for family zoning.
My colleague Allison Arieff discussed the impact of this “stunning defeat of NIMBYism” in a column on Wednesday.
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