For the last two weeks before the election, Mission Local’s campaign dispatches are switching daily between the major candidates. Today: Ahsha Safaí. Read earlier dispatches here.
Since Ahsha Safaí declared his candidacy for mayor in May 2023, he has walked the Mission Street corridor in the Excelsior many times, asking shop owners to put a Safaí sign in the window and asking residents for their vote.
Nowadays, however, Safaí has company — Mark Farrell, his opponent in the mayoral race, with whom he recently formed a ranked-choice voting alliance, one that can only help Farrell as the termed-out District 11 supervisor will likely be the first of the frontrunners to have his votes redistributed.
So on Thursday, Safaí took on the staffer-like role of introducing Farrell to business owners. When Farrell ran into his linguistic limitations with Spanish-speaking voters, Safaí helped to translate.
“My name is Ahsha. I’m running for mayor,” Safaí said to one shop owner. “This is my friend Mark. He’s also running for mayor. We are running as a team.”
This introduction left most voters surprised, if not confused. Many were not familiar with the ranked-choice voting system that allows voters to select up to 10 people for mayor on the ballot. But two candidates campaigning together also flummoxed some of the business owners.
Not Safaí. “People see it as a breath of fresh air, because candidates are usually just attacking each other,” he said. “I think voters really respond well. They see it as a collaboration. They see it as a mature decision.”
This wasn’t their first joint appearance since early October when they announced the alliance. They’ve also been together to Crocker Amazon Park, the Castro and Noe Valley.
The alliance is clearly an effort to blunt all of those second-choice votes that the polls say are going to Farrell’s rival Daniel Lurie, but Jim Ross, a long-time political consultant in San Francisco said forming alliances is often “a sign of desperation” and not “necessarily an effective campaign tool.”
The alliance is “meaningless” for Safaí and Farrell, Ross said, as neither would likely be the top two candidates in the last round. Recent polls released by San Francisco Chronicle and Aaron Peskin’s campaign, showed Breed, Lurie and Peskin are the leading candidates.
Another poll from TogetherSF showed London Breed leads with 25 percent first-place votes, while Farrell and Lurie tie with 21 percent, and Peskin follows with 20 percent. In this case, Farrell could possibly benefit from Safaí’s second-place votes.
In the meantime, however, Safaí’s decision to make the alliance could diminish his six percent or so share of first-round votes.
Last week, the National Union of Healthcare Workers rescinded their second-place endorsement of Safaí, and endorsed Daniel Lurie as their No.2 instead. The union also asked Safaí to return its $500 contributions to his campaign.
“Unfortunately, former supervisor Farrell has a long track-record of supporting corporate interests in the city, and Supervisor Safaí’s alliance with him is disqualifying in the eyes of our executive board,” said Sal Rosselli, president emeritus of NUHW.
An hour and a half in, the merchant walk ended at Excelsior Avenue and Mission Street. Safaí and Farrell, standing in front of a mural, started filming a Tik Tok video together.
After, Safaí would likely return to his Mission campaign headquarters — just a few hours before, someone had used a brick to shatter the glass door at its entrance — less than two weeks before the election, there are more fund-raising calls to make.
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