The Greenberg Brief: San Francisco Mayoral Race – Thirteen Official Candidates Fight For Attention

Ellen Lee Zhou is a name many of you will not recognize, though she has indeed run for San Francisco mayor three times to date. I got to know her back in 2018 when I was a mayoral candidate as well. That year I was the Republican candidate, Ellen was an independent (No Party Preference, or NPP as we call it), and though the two of us, along with six others, were included in many of the city’s candidate forums and debates around town, we were excluded from several key events. We both were excluded from several endorsement meetings, not even invited to submit an application. Was this fair, for organizations and groups to purposefully deny the voice and vision of a candidate? The answer is not so simple, and I expect to see a repeat this campaign season as well.

This past Tuesday, June 11th 2024 was the deadline for mayoral candidates to file all required applications, statements, reports and filing fees. I was on hand at the San Francisco Department of Elections with a colleague of mine for the final hour before the 5pm deadline, to see who would come in. Though the major, prominent candidates had already completed the necessary steps to move forward in the race, culminating in this November’s election, a few last minute “unknowns” did scurry in and ultimately have their paperwork approved just under the wire.

In all, the initial fifty-three declared mayoral candidates were whittled down to thirteen when the deadline passed. This final number is actually higher than I had predicted; I expected the finalists to number perhaps seven or eight. This larger number is not a good thing.

Checking the Department of Elections database, I discovered that of these now-official thirteen candidates, eight are Democrats, three are NPP, one is registered American Independent, and there is one lone Republican. I note the American Independent candidate most likely registered with that party in error and meant to actually register NPP. It’s a common, even California’s First Lady, “First Partner” Jennifer Siebel Newsom made the same mistake years ago.

These last few months though, local media have already been referring to the “Five Mayoral Candidates,” though we knew even weeks ago there were actually over fifty by then. Clearly, reporters already pre-judged the viability of the then-dozens of declared candidates, and several high-profile candidate forums were already scheduled but only to feature those “prominent” five. This trend is still continuing today.

I get it. Debate organizers only want voices and views of viable, electable candidates be considered, or the debate stage will become crowded, requiring shorter response times to moderators’ questions.

Back to Ellen Lee Zhou: She finished fifth-place in 2018 and earned second-place in the 2019 elections as a Republican, pulling in fourteen percent of the vote when London Breed ran as the incumbent. She is today the Republican candidate again and Zhou will surely face an uphill battle.

Not only are the vast majority of San Francisco voters Democrats but political organizations which are under the umbrella of the local Democratic Party (SF DCCC) will only endorse registered Democrats. Political groups, clubs, organizations will not consider a non-Democrat, and especially not a Republican, for endorsement or for debate participation. Of course, this is not an issue solely for Zhou. The three NPP candidates and the American Independent candidate are also facing exclusion from the endorsement and debate process for the same reason.

So, what does this mean for the lesser-known candidates? It’s surely going to make it that much more difficult to be heard. They will need more campaign donations to afford to send out political mailers, email blasts, social media buys, merchandise, stickers, hoodies. They will need a reliable volunteer base to be at public spaces (like local farmers’ markets) to raise awareness, hand out information flyers and buttons. And their social media accounts and websites will need to be top-notch. It hurts more so, that they each had to pay an over seven thousand dollar filing fee, ultimately to be mostly ignored. Ouch.

Unfortunately, I do not have much faith in these lesser candidates after having met several scrambling in the final days leading up to the filing deadline. There is a clear reason the prominent politicians filed early – to get the word out, to raise significant campaign funds and to build name recognition to result in inclusion for positive polling numbers. Yet even today, with their clear advantage, I still get asked who the main candidates are. They are namely London Breed, Mark Farrell, Daniel Lurie, Aaron Peskin and Ahsha Safai. Peskin and Safai are currently serving on the Board of Supervisors, and London Breed is of course the mayor incumbent.

Ellen Lee Zhou has her work cut out for her. Her stance, her platform and proposals are right up the alley of the conservative, religious MAGA voters of San Francisco. Her consistent message of bringing God into all aspects of our lives, including government, the Arts, and to bring God’s love, joy and peace to San Francisco, and to restore the Constitution, have placed rather high hurdles for acceptance of her candidacy by this liberal city. At best, she could place sixth.

I wish her, and all the lesser candidates, well.