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Two of San Francisco Mayor Daniel\u00a0Lurie\u2019s key allies on the Board of Supervisors will face voters for the first time in June.<\/p>\n
Stephen Lam\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
San Francisco\u2019s June election comes with major political stakes for\u00a0Mayor Daniel Lurie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two of his key allies on the Board of Supervisors will face voters for the first time in districts that include the Sunset, Marina and Pacific Heights neighborhoods. The outcomes of those races could reshape the dynamics at City Hall and help\u00a0\u2014 or hinder\u00a0\u2014 the mayor\u2019s agenda during the rest of his term.\u00a0<\/p>\n District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, shown at a community meeting last December, is seeking voter approval to remain in his seat, to which he was appointed by former Mayor London Breed.<\/p>\n Carlos Avila Gonzalez\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n Lurie\u2019s allies have poured huge amounts of cash into races to boost the two incumbents that the mayor has endorsed: District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill<\/a> and District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong<\/a>. Both are mayoral appointees seeking voters\u2019 approval to remain in their seats until their terms end in January. Their seats will be on the ballot again in November for full four-year terms.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Both candidates face robust challenges from serious opponents who argue that the incumbents are more attentive to\u00a0Lurie and his deep-pocketed allies than to their constituents.\u00a0<\/p>\n In District 2,\u00a0Sherrill is up against Lori Brooke, a Cow Hollow community organizer who has rallied opposition to Lurie\u2019s housing plan<\/a> to allow taller, denser development in the city\u2019s western and northern neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n Supervisor Alan Wong, a mayoral appointee, is seeking voter approval to remain in his seat.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gabrielle Lurie\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n In District 4, Wong faces a longer list of challengers, including Albert Chow, a leader in the successful effort to recall former Supervisor Joel\u00a0Engardio, and Natalie Gee, a longtime legislative aide to Supervisor Shamann Walton. Like Brooke, both Gee and Chow have criticized the incumbents for backing Lurie\u2019s plan to authorize denser housing, and both have seized on lingering outrage among Sunset residents about the transformation of the Upper Great Highway into Sunset Dunes park\u00a0\u2014 one of the biggest fights<\/a> in the district.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Lurie sees the election as an opportunity to continue his own political momentum. The centrist mayor has touted his productive working relationship with the Board of Supervisors, which became more moderate in the 2024 elections. The board has consistently advanced Lurie\u2019s legislative priorities with little resistance.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cSupervisors Sherrill and Wong share my commitment to accountability and results, and together we\u2019re making San Francisco safer, cleaner, and more livable for the families, workers, and small businesses of this incredible city,\u201d Lurie said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n But his supporters fear that could begin to change if either Wong or Sherrill is ousted and replaced by a challenger less friendly to the mayor. That outcome could bring back the\u00a0political dynamics<\/a> seen during former Mayor London Breed\u2019s tenure, when the board was dominated by progressives who pushed back on her policies at various points.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we actually expect to get anything done in San Francisco, we need to maintain the moderate majority on the Board of Supervisors,\u201d said Nancy Tung, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, which is backing Wong and Sherrill. \u201cIf the city doesn\u2019t elect them, we could expect to see some gridlock in City Hall with respect to the direction that the mayor is trying to steer the city.\u201d<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s endorsements have come in addition to a significant chunk of change from third-party groups aligned with\u00a0Lurie that are investing heavily in favor of Wong and Sherrill. In total, about $1.4 million has been spent so far by all candidates and political action committees in Districts 2 and 4, according to campaign finance disclosures. Roughly 40% of that has come from pro-Lurie groups that are backing Wong and Sherrill.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that if we lose even one seat, San Francisco will go backwards,\u201d said\u00a0Sachin Agarwal, co-founder of Grow SF, a moderate political group with ties to Lurie that raised about $573,000 to back the two supervisors.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Agarwal and his co-founder at Grow SF, Steven Buss Bacio, pointed to several policy areas where they fear San Francisco could backslide if Wong and Sherrill lose their seats. One is housing, given that Lurie has embraced a pro-development stance shared by the board\u2019s moderate bloc. Another is public safety, a top campaign issue for the mayor. And Agarwal said it\u2019s also important that Lurie has allies on the board when he\u2019s trying to eliminate San Francisco\u2019s recurring budget shortfalls, partly by laying off city workers.<\/p>\n Another political action committee calling itself SF Believes has pulled in $1.1 million from 15 donors\u00a0\u2014 most of whom also gave in support of\u00a0Lurie\u2019s mayoral campaign\u00a0\u2014 to spend on the June supervisor races and others. The top donor to SF Believes is Jan Koum, the billionaire co-founder of WhatsApp who has been a major donor to President Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n District 4 Board of Supervisors candidate Albert Chow raises a paddle while responding to a question during a candidate forum. He is challenging Lurie appointee Alan Wong for his seat on the Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n Jana A\u0161enbrennerov\u00e1\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n In the wake of all that cash, critics have ramped up efforts to paint the incumbents as overly beholden to the mayor and his wealthy donors. Wong\u2019s four challengers\u00a0\u2014 Chow and Gee, along with campus coordinator Jeremy Greco and political science lecturer David Lee\u00a0\u2014 have banded together to decry the groups\u2019 spending on the supervisor and are urging voters to leave him off their ranked-choice ballots.<\/p>\n But the outside groups supporting Wong and\u00a0Sherrill are betting that the popular mayor\u2019s support will boost them at the ballot box. A Grow SF-funded ad supporting Wong, for example, said \u201cMayor Lurie trusts Alan Wong to deliver for the Sunset.\u201d A Grow SF-funded ad that criticized Brooke highlighted her opposition to Lurie\u2019s \u201cFamily Zoning\u201d plan to allow more homes on the north and west sides of the city. Both Sherrill and Wong voted for the plan.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Wong\u2019s campaign website prominently features a photo of him being sworn into office by Lurie. Sherrill also displays Lurie\u2019s image first in his endorsements section. The first sentence of his message to voters refers to San Francisco as \u201ca city on the rise\u201d\u00a0\u2014 a\u00a0 phrase the mayor uses in his public remarks.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, we have people embracing\u00a0Lurie, and I think that probably tells us more about where voters see the city right now \u2026 and candidates are aware of it,\u201d said Patrick Murphy, a public affairs professor at the University of San Francisco.<\/p>\n But the challengers in both districts have sought to turn the popular mayor\u2019s support into a liability.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lori Brooke, a candidate for District 2 supervisor, talks with Caroline Allen while canvassing Wednesday.<\/p>\n Minh Connors\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a big difference between Stephen and I. \u2026 I won\u2019t be a rubber stamp,\u201d Brooke said. \u201cI will be very thoughtful about the choices I make, but I am definitely responsive to my constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Brooke said she hopes voters will be turned off by the spending to support Sherrill and see her as a \u201cgrassroots candidate\u201d being \u201cmowed over by corporations and billionaires.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sherrill has emphasized the strength of his relationship with Lurie.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe mayor\u2019s support is incredibly meaningful,\u201d\u00a0Sherrill said. \u201cWe want to be moving forward, and I think that\u2019s why we have so much momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n In District 4, three of the four candidates challenging Wong came together at a news conference Thursday to decry the outside spending pouring into the race. Chow and Greco wore stickers that read, \u201cI\u2019m not a billionaire\u2019s\u00a0b*tch,\u201d and their supporters carried signs with slogans such as, \u201cGive back\u00a0MAGA buck$.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Natalie Gee is challenging Lurie appointee Alan Wong for his seat on the Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n Minh Connors\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n At the news conference, Gee criticized the billionaires she said were trying to use their influence to secure \u201cthe votes that they want at City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Sunset is not for sale,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chow has also\u00a0accused<\/a> Grow SF of trying to pressure him to drop out of the race. Agarwal and Bacio suggested he might be able to get an appointment on a city commission instead. Lurie is responsible for many commission appointments.<\/p>\n Bacio said he and Agarwal did talk to Chow about his \u201cslim\u201d chances of prevailing in the supervisor race but insisted that they never \u201cpressured (Chow) to drop out.\u201d<\/p>\n Gee, who is\u00a0benefiting from outside spending by a union-funded committee that\u2019s raised $300,000, hopes collaborating with the other candidates will help defeat Wong by leveraging ranked-choice voting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to embracing the mayor\u2019s support, Wong and\u00a0Sherrill emphasized the endorsements from neighborhood groups and stressed their commitment to constituent services and the meat-and-potatoes issues in their districts: irksome noise from a Tesla charging lot in the Marina, a protected left-turn lane on Sloat Boulevard.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wong said in a recent interview that he has tried to design his campaign and City Hall office around what an \u201ceveryday normal person in the Sunset\u201d cares most about.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want to take things in a very pragmatic manner,\u201d Wong said. \u201cToo much ideology prevents us from getting practical results.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But Wong has had little choice but to weigh in on some politically divisive citywide issues, and his critics and opponents have taken note. During his first week in office, Wong voted for the mayor\u2019s zoning plan, angering some residents who opposed the plan and felt their concerns were unheard.\u00a0<\/p>\n Early in his term, Wong also failed<\/a> to secure enough votes from his colleagues to put forward a new ballot measure that would have asked voters to decide on the future of Sunset Dunes for the second time in two years. At a candidate forum in February, Wong\u00a0blamed<\/a> the mishap on Gee, given that her boss\u00a0\u2014 Supervisor Walton\u00a0\u2014 could have provided the fourth vote needed to put a measure on the ballot. Gee said it was Walton\u2019s decision to make and not hers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Sunset resident Bob\u00a0Twomey said Wong\u2019s vote signaled a worrisome fealty to the administration that had just appointed him. Twomey, a political and labor adviser, is backing Gee, whom he sees as better equipped to represent the district.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who do not trust him,\u201d Twomey said of Wong.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In the months since his appointment, Wong has also managed to run afoul of some of the pro-housing groups that have endorsed him. After his office circulated a petition in support of \u201ca comprehensive cleanup of toxic vapors\u201d beneath a recently completed 90-unit affordable housing project in the Sunset, pro-housing group SF YIMBY penned an outraged letter to Wong.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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