SF Mayor London Breed Drops Out of Next Mayoral Debate

Until earlier this month, San Francisco Mayor London Breed was set to be in the September 11th KCBS Mayoral debate at the Julia Morgan Ballroom. She was expected to be alongside rivals former Mayor Mark Farrell, non-profit executive Daniel Lurie, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, and Supervisor Ahsha Safai. However, in a surprising decision, Breed dropped out of the debate, saying that she still has a city to run, and the timing of the debate was not good for her.

“I am the mayor of San Francisco not just a candidate,” said the Mayor late last week. “I have to run the city and that includes meetings and everything else that I need to do so I have to be very selective about the number of the debates and the amount of time I’m able to be available for these kinds of opportunities.”

Her campaign then expanded upon her remarks, stating that “The Mayor already participated in four debates and still has the upcoming SF Chronicle/KQED debate and numerous candidate forums on her schedule, between now and Election Day.

“Unlike Daniel Lurie and Mark Farrell, Mayor Breed has a job. She has to balance the demands of running the City, while also running a campaign. She has a limited amount of time and she wants to speak directly with voters as much as possible. She wants to escape the bubble of city insiders and go straight to the people, meeting them as they live their daily lives. Daniel Lurie and Mark Farrell want more debates so they can stand on the stage repeating the same toothless talking points over and over again.”

Her fellow candidates responded, saying that she was not attending because she was failing more and more to defend her record as Mayor.

“Mayor Breed claims she is ducking debates because she wants to break out of the circle of political insiders, but it’s really because she doesn’t want to defend her track record of failed leadership on the top issues facing our City,” said Farrell on Tuesday. “She has no vision for San Francisco, and it’s why only 27% of voters in a recent poll approve of her job performance. I look forward to participating in tomorrow’s debate where I will have the opportunity to potentially reach hundreds of thousands of voters directly with my vision and plans to deliver the change that our City deserves.”

Mayor Breed is ducking debates because she doesn't want to defend her failed leadership & is just offering more of the same for SF's future.

I look forward to sharing my vision & plans to deliver the change that our City deserves with voters tonight. https://t.co/IGT5qsG0pl

— Mark Farrell 🥥🌴 (@MarkFarrellSF) September 11, 2024

Lurie’s campaign added that “After six years as mayor and six as a Supervisor, London Breed is dodging the voters instead of speaking to them because she can’t defend her record of growing and exploiting the city’s corrupt bureaucracy. Daniel Lurie is the only candidate with the right experience to change the broken system at City Hall and voters deserve to hear why. Ultimately, change is coming to San Francisco whether or not the mayor is afraid to stand on the stage with Daniel.”

While the Mayor cancelled several debates earlier this year, including one just last month, other candidates also cancelled and got those debates eventually cancelled as a result. However, Breed not attending Wednesday’s debate could not have come at a worse time for the Mayor. Shortly after she announced she wouldn’t be attending, San Francisco 49er Ricky Pearsall was shot in the city, making national news and boosting crime back to being the most hot button topic in the city. Breed also slipped in the polls. While she had been in first since June in every poll that came out, the newest poll that came out just yesterday now has her losing to Farrell by a razor thin margin.

Breed’s new homeless programs, including a new busing program, helped keep her popular enough last month that she dropped out of a debate. But when she did the same for Wednesday’s debate, she now not only can’t debate top issues, but she can’t even get her face on screen and try to boost herself back into first place. While she is still set to appear in the September 19th debate next month, that will make it over a week for which she can’t defend herself in front of her fellow candidates.

“The first few times she could get away with it because she was doing well in the polls and other candidates saw problems with the debates,” explained political advisor Sharon Lee to the Globe on Wednesday. But now, dropping out of this one and then insulting other candidates, I mean, there is no class to it. Is she really pulling the ‘Well I have a job’ card? Kamala Harris is juggling her job and campaigning and debating right now. Same with, well, name your politician or lawmaker. They all do it. Does the Mayoral election in San Francisco have more debates than other places? A few more, but nothing crazy.

“And yeah, she picked the wrong time to do it. This was like her deciding not to buy Apple stock in 1996 or Tesla stock a decade ago. Circumstances quickly changed. And like you said, look at her numbers in polling now. She isn’t first anymore. She needs to debate out there and bat them away and get a few points back. And now she can’t do it and the show is going on without her. If you hear some loud thumps while passing the City Hall today, it’s the sound of her kicking herself for dropping out.”

The Mayoral debate is to be held on September 11th, with the next one scheduled for September 19th.