San Francisco voters delivered Mayor Daniel Lurie victories in his most hoped-for measures at the ballot box on Tuesday: Propositions D, E and F, which will significantly strengthen the mayor’s hand in City Hall, and, at the same time, diminish his opposition.
To celebrate the widely anticipated wins, about 200 supporters packed into the courtyard of Anina, a Hayes Valley bar at 482 Hayes St., as they awaited Lurie’s arrival. Mingling in the crowd were members of Lurie’s administration, including Kunal Modi; advisors and consultants who worked on the campaign for the measures, like the mayor’s outside public relations strategist Max Szabo; allies on the Board of Supervisors, Stephen Sherrill, Raphael Mandelman, and Alan Wong; Sachin Agarwal, the director of political pressure group GrowSF; journalists, including San Francisco Standard columnist Adam Lashinsky, who took a liking to Lurie’s measures; and numerous City Hall employees.
Results of the national election proved a perfect warmup for Lurie, as the crowd grew giddier with each televised update of the Democratic rout underway. Shortly after 9 p.m., Lurie bounced into the courtyard, and onto a makeshift stage to a resounding applause. The mayor noted the national election and various local measures, including the Regional Transit Measure, before highlighting the wins which Mayor Lurie’s Yes on D, E & F Committee spent $14 million to deliver.
“Now, in this election, you all showed the courage it takes to fight the system and win,” Lurie said. “You saw an opportunity to make things better for all San Franciscans, and you seized it — Props D, E, and F are a significant step forward.”
All nine propositions Lurie weighed in on went the way he wanted. (He’d punted on Prop. G which failed.). Prop. I, an affordable housing measure Lurie opposed and recklessly mischaracterized to the press and voters, was defeated.
Thirteen out of fourteen San Francisco candidates Lurie endorsed won their elections. The notable exception was Gary McCoy, who won as District 8 Supervisor. In that race, Lurie stood by café owner Manny Yekutiel until additional allegations of sexual assault forced the mayor’s good friend to withdraw from the race and the mayor to withdraw his endorsement.
“We are now choosing progress over the politics of the past, results over excuses, common sense over corruption and confusion,” Lurie told the crowd. It was a clear reference to the most controversial of the measures the mayor won, Prop. D, which will make it more difficult to get measures on San Francisco’s ballot. As a result of its passage, grass roots campaigns will require significantly more signatures and money.
“These victories are not a finish line, they are a starting point,” Lurie continued. “San Franciscans tonight are giving us the tools to govern effectively, and you deserve results.”
District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood was also at Lurie’s watch party, primarily because he was leading the push for Prop. J in collaboration with the mayor. (It also won, handily.) Mahmood said he was also there to celebrate Lurie’s wins on Propositions E and F – but not D, which the District 5 Supervisor said he remained neutral about. I asked Mahmood if he was concerned about the election results concentrating too much power in the mayor’s hands.
“We are calibrating to other cities like New York, which we’re now holding up as a high model for effectiveness,” Mahmood said. When Lurie finished his speech, he called Mahmood and Mandelman to the stage for some photographs. The mayor did a television interview, and the crowd quickly thinned out after Szabo led him out a corner exit in the courtyard.
