Teenagers don\u2019t know much about San Francisco politics. Many can\u2019t name a supervisor, aren\u2019t old enough to vote, and don\u2019t have much interest in learning about policy. But that hasn\u2019t stopped them from falling for the man in charge.<\/p>\n
Mayor Daniel Lurie isn\u2019t just a policymaker, you see. He\u2019s an icon. The unc who collabbed with IShowSpeed<\/a>. The city leader whose \u201cHow do you do, fellow kids (opens in new tab)<\/a>\u201d act\u00a0 \u2014 much to the chagrin of every other fortysomething dad in the city \u2014 is somehow actually working.<\/p>\n In San Francisco, political figures rarely register with teenagers at all. Lurie does \u2014 and how and why that is happening is worth investigating. Naturally, we went to Stonestown.\u00a0<\/p>\n On a recent Saturday afternoon at the mall that\u2019s become San Francisco\u2019s most reliable teen hangout, groups of high schoolers clustered around boba shops and sneaker stores, phones in hand, killing time before Christmas.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe really cares about high schoolers,\u201d said Mehr, a junior at Lowell High School. \u201cHe\u2019s actually involved in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Mehr first heard about Lurie from her mom, who agrees with many of his policies. Shortly afterward, the teen saw one of the mayor\u2019s videos on her TikTok For You page. Now she follows him on Instagram.<\/p>\n Although Mehr recognizes that the \u201clarge age gap\u201d means a friendship with the 48-year-old mayor might be difficult, he seems \u201capproachable\u201d and like a \u201creally casual guy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost people I know also like him,\u201d Mehr said. \u201cDefinitely no one dislikes him, but I do know people who didn\u2019t like London Breed \u2014 so that\u2019s a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, Lurie has spent less than a year in office, compared with his predecessor\u2019s seven years as mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n To be fair, many of the teens The Standard asked had no idea who Lurie was. But it is notable that among those who did recognize him, Lurie was often the only city official they could name \u2014 and the reaction was unanimously positive.<\/p>\n \u201cI do appreciate the vibes,\u201d said Dominic, a senior at Oceana High School in Pacifica who follows Lurie online. \u201cHe seems engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n Sofia, a senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, said she noticed how often Lurie shows up at youth events, such as the Bruce-Mahoney rivalry game with St. Ignatius, and to services at her church.<\/p>\n \u201cOur whole school knows him,\u201d Sofia said. \u201cEveryone likes him.\u201d<\/p>\n The comments about Lurie are somewhat shockingly in line with what teens in New York might be saying about Zohran Mamdani, despite the city leaders\u2019 wildly different politics.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Lurie, Sofia said, \u201ccaters more to younger audiences. He\u2019s getting people engaged at a younger age.\u201d<\/p>\n That outreach \u2014 showing up at school events, posting informal videos, leaning into social media \u2014 looks less like traditional politics and more like influencer logic: be visible, feel accessible, don\u2019t seem fake.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s a cool guy,\u201d said Zachary, a 16-year-old SF native who goes to boarding school.<\/p>\n Regardless of Lurie\u2019s political future, that might be enough of a victory in itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teenagers don\u2019t know much about San Francisco politics. Many can\u2019t name a supervisor, aren\u2019t old enough to vote,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[636,101,103,102,104,106,105,42916,14039],"class_list":{"0":"post-109497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-daniel-lurie","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","11":"tag-san-francisco-news","12":"tag-sf","13":"tag-sf-headlines","14":"tag-sf-news","15":"tag-stonestown-galleria","16":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}