In what has become a bitter proxy for the larger battle between moderates and progressives over the future of San Francisco politics, a reformist slate of candidates called SF Democrats For Change — backed in part by big money from tech luminaries — is trying to bring an end to progressive control of the local Democratic Party with next Tuesday’s election.
The progressive Labor & Working Families slate, meanwhile, which says wealthy interests are trying to buy control of The City, struck back this week by filing a complaint alleging campaign finance violations against the candidate on the other side who had raised the most money. Another group supporting the progressive slate filed similar complaints against the candidate who had raised the second-highest amount.
At stake are 24 seats on the Democratic County Central Committee, an obscure volunteer body that, among other things, works to get out the vote for Democratic candidates, approves non-binding policy statements and — importantly — issues endorsements for municipal ballot measures and local candidates and also sends out political mailers. There are also eight ex-officio seats reserved for state and federal elected officials.
The committee’s endorsements can be influential in a city where almost 64% of registered voters are Democratic.
Through Friday, the SF Democrats For Change slate had raised $1.76 million, compared with $551,000 raised by Labor & Working Families candidates.
SF Democrats For Change candidates raised money individually and through a committee that had received contributions from tech figures such as cryptocurrency pioneer Chris Larsen, former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman and controversial venture capitalist Garry Tan, who collectively had given hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The committee had also received significant funding from the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council.
The SF Democrats For Change slate was assembled by and was getting campaign support from Families for a Vibrant SF, a political action committee associated with Abundant SF, which was founded by Zack Rosen, the co-founder and CEO of Pantheon, a website software company. Rosen is also a founder of California YIMBY, an organization dedicated to accelerating homebuilding in the state.
The slate includes Supervisors Matt Dorsey and Catherine Stefani, as well as Michela Alioto-Pier, a former supervisor. The Labor & Working Families slate includes Supervisor Connie Chan and former Supervisors John Avalos, Sandra Lee Fewer, Jane Kim and Gordon Mar; public defender Mano Raju; and Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
Abundant SF spokeswoman Colby Zintl said that labels don’t apply well in San Francisco, where people toward the center would be considered leftist in other parts of the nation, but the majority on the Democratic County Central Committee — the “D-Triple C,” as it’s commonly called — has been out of touch with Democratic voters on issues such as housing, education and public safety.
“There’s a lot of people who live in San Francisco who want to see the city turned around,” Zintl said. “A lot of people are getting active in local politics because they’re not happy with the status quo.”
Dorsey, who had raised $101,378 for his committee race, cited the party’s endorsement that same year of John Hamasaki against Brooke Jenkins; Jenkins nevertheless won decisively for district attorney. He also pointed to a recent Labor & Working Families email that urged supporters to get out the vote to protect “our efforts to defund public safety initiatives.”
“This is the kind of s--- that loses Florida,” Dorsey said. “When we have this reputation, we are tanking the entire Democratic Party brand, so there really is a reputational issue that plays out in politics nationwide that we have to take responsibility for as a local party.”
A Labor & Working Families consultant quickly retracted the defunding language, saying it was included in error and did not reflect slate candidates’ views.
Its candidates, in turn, have accused their opponents of doing the bidding of wealthy contributors trying to take over The City.
“You have billionaires and, frankly, conservative interests that are trying to buy this election so they can control the Democratic Party,” said Peter Gallotta, an incumbent on the Democratic Party committee. “And by virtue of controlling the Democratic Party, they can set the table for the issues in San Francisco.”
Gallotta spoke after a recent committee meeting in which members approved resolutions supporting transgender protections and candidates’ use of campaign funds for mental healthcare.
“So, they are trying to set the table for the next four years and reshape and remake San Francisco in their image, which, frankly, is a much, much more conservative agenda than what I believe San Franciscans and certainly the San Francisco Democratic Party represents,” Gallotta said. “We are a conscience to some degree for San Francisco.”
Many members who have served on the committee for the last four years are not running again. Gallotta is one of eight incumbent candidates on the Labor & Working Families slate.
Another is Leah LaCroix, who is running for a third four-year term and had raised only $7,342. She said those trying to “purchase” the party committee are not thinking about the vital role volunteer activism plays in making a strong Democratic Party.
“For me, it’s about showing up and doing the work. I don’t believe that money should be the thing that wins out in elections,” LaCroix said.
The Department of Elections said it expects to certify the results of The City’s election within the next two weeks
The underperformance of the statewide measure highlights challenges ahead for the governor’s policies
A new study reported that traces of the virus can be found in both blood and tissue samples for extended periods of time
Nancy Tung, a local prosecutor, is the only committee incumbent who is running with SF Democrats for Change.
“When people describe it as a proxy war — I mean, it kind of is,” Tung said.
It has been frustrating to be in the minority, she said, citing a clash on the committee last year over whether to allow the Westside Family Democratic Club to have a charter, in part because its name contained the word “family.” The club eventually got its charter.
“Who controls the city, right?” Tung said. “Is it the progressives or is it the moderates? The people with common sense or people who are ideologues? That’s my view on it. A majority of the city has been disaffected by some of the extreme positions taken by the far left, and I think that the city is ripe for change.”
Daniel Anderson, a political consultant with the Labor & Working Families slate, called the amount of money collected by SF Democrats for Change candidates “shocking,” citing large donations from Larsen, who gave at least $250,000.
The “billionaires” and other wealthy interests already control much of the rest of local government except for the Democratic County Central Committee, Anderson said. If the SF Democrats for Change slate wins, he said, expect to see the committee take stances that are more pro-big business and less favorable to labor.
“They’ll start washing up money directly through the Democratic Party so they can start putting out mailers that say, you know, ‘the Democratic Party supports XYZ,’” he said.
Bilal Mahmood, a climate nonprofit director who ran unsuccessfully for state Assembly in 2022, had raised the most money, collecting $241,078 as of Friday. He is also running against incumbent District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston in the November election, for which he is separately raising money.
The Labor & Working Families slate filed a complaint against Mahmood this week with The City’s Ethics Commission, alleging that he broke city rules — which limit contributions to supervisorial candidates to $500 — by spending $137,500 on digital ads that targeted traffic to a website that linked to donation pages for both of his campaigns.
State rules do not limit the amount that candidates can raise for campaigns for county central committees, but city rules do limit contributions to supervisorial candidates to $500.
Mahmood, who resists labels and claims support from across the political spectrum, denied the charge in an interview, saying there were appropriate disclaimers.
“Dean Preston and his allies are worried about me because I’m out raising him, I am out door knocking him, having more conversations in the field,” Mahmood said. “They’re worried, and so they’re resorting to scraping the bottom of the barrel to find anything that they think can stick.”
Mahmood confirmed, however, his earlier public self-reporting that his campaign had mistakenly sent out a mailer for his party committee that included a logo for his supervisorial race, an error he blamed on a consultant. That incident was also in the Labor & Working Families complaint.
On Friday, members of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, which endorsed the Labor & Working Families slate, publicized ethics complaints they had filed against Marjan Philhour alleging similar campaign finance violations, which club President Jeffrey Kwong insisted were “egregious.”
Philhour, whose top issue is public safety, had raised $218,111, behind only Mahmood.
Philhour is another dual candidate running both for the party central committee and for District 1 supervisor against Chan, also running two campaigns. Philhour said the allegations against her were a “desperate 11th-hour attempt by a political machine that is out of touch with everyday San Franciscans.”
Helping to draft that case against Philhour was Paul Melbostad, an attorney and former president of The City’s Ethics Commission, who said such violations could result in a candidate being denied public campaign funding for the November election.
A Richmond District native who previously ran twice unsuccessfully for District 1 supervisor and once for the party central committee, Philhour said frankly that she needs money because she’s “going up against a machine that’s been entrenched” for decades.
“I’m gonna need some gas in the tank to climb that mountain to get my message out because I am at a disadvantage,” she said.
Chan rejected Philhour’s contention that she is not supportive of public safety. Chan said she did not support the Boudin or school district recall efforts because she thinks “recall is not the best tool to really change the system and defend our democracy.”
The Labor & Working Families slate is focused on creating an equitable economy, one that does not just benefit the rich, Chan said.
“I’m disappointed that we are allowing, you know, people who are like billionaires being able to be influencing the Democratic Party,” she said.
