Election extra! Neighbors for a Better San Francisco gives $89K to No on K

Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the deep-pocketed political group that has become one of the top-spending outfits in city politics, has given $89,000 to fight Proposition K, the measure to close the Upper Great Highway to cars.

The give is the second-biggest campaign donation from Neighbors during this election cycle, after its $950,000 spend on Prop. D, the TogetherSF measure to cap the number of city commissions and expand mayoral power, while restricting police oversight.

Like the Prop. D spending being used by mayoral candidate Mark Farrell, the spending on Prop. K is, effectively, also putting a thumb on the scale of the District 7 supervisor race. Matt Boschetto, a District 7 candidate, created a No on K ballot measure committee that had fundraised about $164,000 as of Oct. 30, including at least $67,000 from his family. 

But ballot measure committees, like Boschetto’s, can become soft money vehicles to prop up candidate races: Those donating to San Francisco candidates directly can only give up to $500, but they can give unlimited amounts to ballot measure committees.

A candidate, like Boschetto or Farrell, can then use the funds in their committee to plaster their name, face, and message on mailers and ads targeting voters across the district.

Neighbors also advises its wealthy members on whom to back, and its donors have seemingly listened: Steve Merrill, the investor who sits on the board of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco and has donated heavily to the group, gave $25,000 to Boschetto’s committee and $500 to Boschetto directly. As did Monica Stobo, another big-time Neighbors donor, who gave $15,000 to Boschetto’s committee and $500 to Boschetto directly.

— Joe Rivano Barros

One of Daniel Lurie’s biggest donors, the WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, who has given the mayoral candidate $500,500, has gone all-in on Donald Trump.

Filings submitted to the Federal Elections Commission on Oct. 24 revealed that Koum had donated $5 million to Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC backing Trump’s candidacy that has fundraised more than $331 million from 2023 to 2024. 

The WhatsApp co-founder is a longtime Republican donor: Koum gave $10 million to a super PAC backing Nikki Haley’s presidential bid in 2023, according to the federal filings. He gave about $250,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is dedicated to electing Republican senators, and several hundred thousand dollars to Republican Party chapters across the country.

He’s also given $7 million to a super PAC called the United Democracy Project, a pro-Israel group that spent $10 million to successfully unseat Rep. Jamaal Bowman and $5.2 million to unseat Rep. Cori Bush, according to OpenSecrets. The PAC spent $20.7 million to attack Democrats in the 2024 cycle.

Koum gave $2.4 million to the Republican Jewish Coalition, according to The Forward. The group has reportedly spent at least $16 million taking out pro-Trump TV ads in swing states.

— Joe Rivano Barros

When I arrived for the Saturday market at 9:30 a.m. this morning Daniel Lurie, who introduced himself as “Danny” to my husband, was working the market’s visitors. He would soon be leaving to pick up trash with J.D. Morris from the San Francisco Chronicle. “I told him Mission Local has been doing this for months,” Lurie said. Maybe he was trying to flatter us, but it is true. Check out the See How They Run series following the five major mayoral candidates.

An hour later as we left the market, Aaron Peskin’s posse had replaced the Lurie entourage. Nancy Shanahan was there. Her husband, Aaron? “Somewhere,” she said. “He’s all over the city.” 

As Xueer Lu reported today, only 30 percent of the ballots have been turned in — far lower than this point 2020 — so this is the weekend that could determine the vote. Check out our election dashboard if you are still deciding. The interactive on the ballot measures and one-minute videos help cut through a lot and if you want to vote like your favorite district supervisor candidate voted in March, check out this page.

Ferry Building food tip: The Primavera stand in the back has some of the best Mexican food in San Francisco and if you like scones, it is hard to beat those made by Batter Bakery in the front.

Never say die

— Lydia Chávez

World Journal printed a political ad for presidential candidate Donald Trump on its front page today in which every line offered a nugget of misinformation. It also lacked disclosures that identify the committee that paid for the ad.

World Journal is the Chinese-language newspaper with the second-largest circulation in San Francisco.

Mission Local has translated the main body of the half-page ad. It is also rife with grammatical errors.

“Do you support treating theft, robbery, and ‘zero-dollar purchases’ below $950 (about to be raised to $1,500) as minor misconduct, where offenders are merely detained and released, eventually leading to no arrests at all, and escalating to collective robberies and thefts? These activities are then labeled as peaceful protests, cash bail is eliminated, and a fund is established to bail out minor offenders, disrupting public order, encouraging crime, and forcing stores to close?

Do you support allowing a man to claim as a woman and have access to women’s restrooms, dressing rooms, bathrooms, and even women’s prisons?

Do you support shutting down free speech media, suppressing freedom of speech, opposing the police, and attempting to defund the police?

Do you support open borders, allowing tens of thousands of undocumented individuals to enter, overloading social systems, with the government providing food, shelter, and a monthly $1,000 allowance funded by taxpayers?

Do you support banning voter ID verification, thus undermining the credibility of the electoral system?

Do you support granting legal status to undocumented immigrants after four years, thus allowing them to vote, effectively erasing swing states, and moving toward a one-party system with unchecked power in a communist-like regime?

Do you support abolishing merit-based admissions, prioritizing skin color and racial quotas while placing Chinese people last?

Do you support allowing the government to brainwash and mislead children on gender identity, with 14 states already passing laws that allow minors under 18 to undergo gender changes, and if parents disagree, the government can intervene, and provide financial support, leading to irreversible harm?

Do you support the unauthorized removal of terrorist organizations from the watch list and the giving of $150 billion to Iran, fueling more terrorist activities?

Do you support unlimited abortion, considering that you could have been the aborted fetus?

If you disagree with the further proliferation, expansion, and worsening of these social issues, join the team to stand alongside Trump, put society back on track, and make America great again.”

For Halloween, District 1 supervisor candidate Marjan Philhour dressed as a police officer, replete with a “criminal” in her backseat. Mission Local obtained video of Philhour rolling down a crowded Lake Street in a four-person pedal car, waving at passersby with a fellow police officer at the steering wheel. The vehicle was decked out with “Marjan for Supervisor” signs and disco lights lit up the roadway around it. 

In the backseat, Forrest Liu is dressed in old-timey jail attire — black-and-white stripes, an inmate number stitched onto his chest. Liu is a longtime Philhour supporter who has gotten a reputation for picking fights on the campaign trail.

Philhour isn’t the only candidate aligning herself firmly with the police and criminal crackdowns; District 5 candidate Scotty Jacobs has also pasted flyers around with caricature imagery of himself helping police officers to sweep green sludge filled with meth pipes, bags of pills, and syringes into — or out of? — the Tenderloin. 

Both Philhour and Jacobs gave out candy to kids advertising their campaigns, causing some grumbles among parents; Jacobs went so far as to tell kids: “Tell your parents to vote Scotty for D5!”

— Eleni Balakrishnan

You may be wondering: What’s up with that commercial about San Francisco’s $1.7 million toilet? 

In the 30-second ad — which aired on Google platforms across San Francisco — middle-aged white men wearing ill-fitting suits and long red ties (perhaps looking to Donald Trump for fashion inspiration) toss $100 bills into a porcelain toilet. 

“How do you flush away $1.7 million?” a man’s voice asks with the tone of a kindergarten teacher reminding his students to wash their hands. “Just ask the seven city commissions in charge of approving the construction of a single public toilet.”

The ad was referencing a 2022 toilet project in Noe Valley that, it’s true, cost $1.7 million. But the city’s onerous approval process only accounted for some of that.

The problem, as Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi wrote in 2022, was that soft costs — those not directly related to construction itself, like architecture, engineering, and management fees — made up almost 60 percent of the budget for a 150-square-foot structure. Experts say these costs typically make up less than 20 percent of a project’s budget.  

Still, between Oct. 15 and Oct. 31, the commercial was played over 1 million times across Google platforms accessed from a San Francisco area code, according to Google’s Ad Transparency analytics. 

This makes it among one of the most watched political commercials in San Francisco. 

Other San Francisco lobbying organizations have also pushed their commercials across Google. Grow SF has put out almost 100 ads, largely targeted at specific districts.Their most viewed individual videos, however, usually average around 200,000 plays. Mayor candidates are also in the fray: an advertisement for Mark Farrell was shown over 2 million times. 

Behind the toilet ad is TogetherSF’s political action committee, called the “Committee to Fix San Francisco Government, Yes on D, No on E,” which is funded by Michael Mortiz and Neighbors for a Better San Francisco. The ballot measure has become by far the most expensive proposition on November’s ballot, with more than $9.2 million behind it.

TogetherSF wrote Prop. D, which would halve the number of city commissions to 65, permanently, and give the mayor and police chief more power. Prop. D’s direct competitor is Prop. E, which would instead create a task force to reduce the number of commissions without weakening police oversight. 

For viewers turned off by a toilet stall, the pressure group has other offerings. 

In another commercial, a similar group of dopey middle-aged men in red ties argue at a table in front of a city seal. They fool around throughout the video, which was viewed over half a million times in eight days, according to Google. At one point, a white-haired man sips on a blue Slurpee. 

The same narrator is back. This time, he calls San Francisco “the most bureaucratic city in America,” comparing its 130 city commissions to Los Angeles’ 49. If you consider Los Angeles’ county commissions, however, that number is closer to 200, but the narrator doesn’t tell you that.  

TogetherSF has also pasted posters around the city featuring neon colors and eye-catching slogans that not-so-subtly nod towards city bureaucracy. 

“They’re spending our tax dollars on vacations,” reads one over a photo of a woman in a hot pink bikini. “They have a concept of a plan,” another reads, quoting Donald Trump. Every poster reminds viewers to vote yes on Prop. D. 

Behind all these ads is the ethos that San Francisco is riddled with inefficiency. 

“Is it any wonder San Francisco was rated the worst-run city in America?” the narrator asks at the end of the toilet commercial, citing KRON4. 

In August, KRON4 published the results of a WalletHub comparison of the “operating efficiency of 148 of the largest U.S. cities.” San Francisco was ranked 148, beneath Oakland and New York City. 

At the top of the list was Nampa, Idaho, a city one-eighth the size of San Francisco.

—Abigail Vân Neely

San Franciscan voters need to weigh in on a whole lot of things in this election — the president, mayor, 15 local ballot measures, and more. 

To add to that, if you live in one of the six odd-number districts in San Francisco, you will need to vote for one extra thing: your next district supervisor. 

To help those of you who haven’t returned your ballots make a more informed decision, we asked the 34 supervisorial candidates about their picks for mayor, ranked-choice voting strategies in their own districts, and where they stand on various local and state propositions. 
Read our latest story and find out who is the most popular mayoral candidate of the supervisor candidates, which candidates have created alliances, and which are the most divisive ballot measures.

— Xueer Lu

Four days before Election Day, we’ve summarized our weekly “Meet the Candidates” answers for District 3, giving you a snapshot of the six candidates’ stances on the major issues. 

Who are they choosing for mayor? How did they vote in March? How do they differ for housing, the Central Subway, encampment sweeps, shelters, biking, police, AI, and more?

Read our piece to understand everything you need to know about your future District 3 supervisor. 

— Yujie Zhou 

If you are also looking for a last-minute costume idea: Put on a button-up shirt and some dress pants – and you can be a mayoral candidate on the campaign trail too. 

In a Halloween social media video, Mark Farrell’s three campaign staffers, all dressed up in blue or white button-up shirts, with the first button undone, mimicking Mark Farrell’s classic outfit on the campaign trail — or any candidates’ outfit except Mayor London Breed, really. 

“We are out on this beautiful day here in West Portal,” said the merchant walk Mark. “…doing a merchant walk on Halloween, talking to business owners,” added “ask me anything” Mark.

“We will bring [public safety] to every neighborhood,” said “@markfarrellsf,” Farrell’s online persona.

And the real Mark, dressed up in his own shirt and pants combo, wrapped it up, asking viewers to vote him No. 1. No matter the fun, the video stuck to Farrell’s message: playing into crime and public safety. 

“Four out of four Mark Farrells agree: public safety will be our top priority and we will make the tough choices we need to deliver real change on Day One,” read the caption. 

For decades, Democratic clubs have served to amplify the political interests of certain groups, like the LGBTQ or Latino communities, or specific neighborhoods throughout the city. Club members would organize, campaign, volunteer and donate for campaigns or propositions best representing them, a grassroot movement that in the last 20 years has taken a very different turn.

For decades, Democratic clubs have served to amplify the political interests of certain groups, like the LGBTQ or Latino communities, or specific neighborhoods throughout the city. Club members would organize, campaign, volunteer and donate for campaigns or propositions best representing them, a grassroot movement that in the last 20 years has taken a very different turn.

In the last few years, new groups have entered the local political scene replicating the Democratic club M.O. Groups like TogetherSF and Neighbors for a Better San Francisco are backed by millions coming from wealthy donors — at times even longtime Republican donors. They then use those funds to fund certain Democratic clubs (aligned with their interests), which are vastly outraising other, smaller clubs now fighting for survival. 

Read more in our piece “In a new era of local politics, some Democratic clubs fight to stay relevant.”

— Oscar Palma

It’s been a productive week for Proposition D, the TogetherSF measure to cut city commissions, expand mayoral power, and reduce police oversight. The measure has become the most well-financed proposition (by far) on November’s ballot, at more than $9.2 million. It received almost half a million in the last three days alone:

• On Monday, Michael Moritz, the chief benefactor of TogetherSF and a billionaire tech VC, gave another $90,000 to Prop. D. That means his total giving to the measure is now at some $3.1 million. (If you haven’t already read our columnist Joe Eskenazi’s profile of Moritz, read it here.)
• On Tuesday, investor Jean-Pierre Conte, the chairman of Genstar Capital, gave $100,000 to Prop. D on Oct. 29. Conte was one of the big donors to the Bay Lights project, and also funds the Hoover Institution at Stanford. 
• And on Wednesday, TogetherSF got its biggest gift of the week: The Fisher brothers (William, Robert, and John) of the Gap family fortune gave $83,333.33 each to the measure. Cumulatively, that’s just a penny shy of a quarter million dollars.

If you want to read more about TogetherSF and their plans for San Francisco, go to our piece “TogetherSF wants to remake City Hall. Internal doc shows that’s just the beginning.”

— Joe Rivano Barros

For months, Daniel Lurie and Mark Farrell have been sparring in their campaign mailers. Now, Ahsha Safaí has joined the fray.

Delivered to Mission Local’s office doorstep this morning was a flier announcing that “billionaire heir Daniel Lurie isn’t qualified to be mayor.” It features a black-and-white photo of a disgruntled Lurie.

On the other side, Safaí beams in full color. Just below his photo is an orange text box reminding readers to rank Mark Farrell second on their ballots. The ad was paid for by Safaí.

Safaí, the supervisor of working-class District 11, formed an unlikely alliance with Farrell earlier this month, and has chaperoned him at campaign events during these final weeks. No other mayoral candidates are campaigning together, or sending allied mailers in the 11th hour.

—Abigail Vân Neely

Aaron Peskin has had a good couple weeks: The polls show he’s climbing, he’s outraised his rivals (if you discount Daniel Lurie, who’s given millions to his own campaign), and towering above all other accomplishments, he’s raked in a key chef’s endorsement.

Alison Roman, the viral food writer and former New York Times cooking columnist, posted on Instagram: “If I still lived in San Francisco, I’d vote for @aaronpeskin2024 for mayor.”

“But did she like my Cooking With Aaron video?!” Peskin tweeted in response. Peskin sometimes posts videos of himself cooking at home, which made the San Francisco Chronicle take notice and feature his food. “If it’s a good morning, I will wake up to some texts with various videos of Aaron cooking,” his social media director told Mission Local.

—Joe Rivano Barros

The election is less than one week away, but what’s sooner than that? Halloween. And what’s sooner than that? My cat’s birthday. 

Her name is Sally Carrera, and we got her a month ago during a Halloween sale at the shelter. Yes, she was a discount cat. And yes, the shelter named her after the Porsche from the animated movie Cars. 

In honor of this very special day, I made everyone I know help me pick the best photo of Sally through ranked-choice voting. 

Watch this video to see the winner and learn how the ranked-choice system works. 

—Abigail Vân Neely

We’re in the final countdown to Election Day, but that hasn’t stopped a late fundraising frenzy. 

Here are some of the financial contributions reported in the last 24 hours: 

• Wojciech Zaremba, the co-founder of OpenAI, gave $35,000 to support Prop. K, which would close the Great Highway to cars. 
• The National Union of Healthcare Workers gave $55,000 to a PAC supporting Aaron Peskin; the union, which has backed Peskin as their No.1 choice, previously gave $75,000. 
• SEIU Local 1021 gave $50,000 to Prop. L, the measure to tax ride-hailing vehicle companies to fund Muni operations. That makes it the largest contribution supporting the measure, which has raised close to $400,000, compared to upwards of $1.1 million opposing it, largely funded by the companies (Uber, Lyft) which would be taxed should Prop. L be enacted. 

—Kelly Waldron

Aaron Peskin hasn’t made it a secret: He opposes Prop. K, the measure to permanently close the Great Highway to cars. He’s appeared at rallies and made some strange bedfellows — his mayoral rivals, Mark Farrell and Daniel Lurie, both oppose the measure with him, as does the San Francisco GOP.

But he won’t be appearing at one this morning, the last No on K gathering before Election Day. Peskin on Tuesday decided against rallying with Farrell in Golden Gate Park, for a 10 a.m. meet-up featuring a host of candidates running to his right: Farrell, Matt Boschetto in District 7, and Autumn Looijen in District 5 (misidentified as a District 7 candidate in the in email sent out by No on K — whoops).

“I am still No on K, because I am against dividing this city,” Peskin wrote in a text, “but I also cannot participate with TogetherSF and their candidate Mark Farrell, who is toxic. Both are dividing this city.”

For more, you can watch Mission Local’s one-minute video explainer on the measure, or read how those fighting the measure compare it to Valencia Street’s bike lane — fairly or otherwise.

—Joe Rivano Barros

Dean Preston is used to getting hit on housing: He is the bête noire of many YIMBYs in the city, who say his attempts to increase affordability requirements in market-rate developments effectively kill those projects and impact supply.

One such project: 400 Divisadero St., which has been used by Preston’s campaign rivals as a rallying cry. Just this weekend, a handful of Preston opponents gathered with mock tombstones at the long-shuttered car wash, each marker indicating the housing units supposedly killed by Preston’s advocacy.

Is it true? The reality is a bit more complicated.

—Joe Rivano Barros

Today, what are likely the last rounds of bulk-mail drop-offs will make their way to USPS office on Evans Avenue, as campaigns work to get mailers out in time for them to reach voters’ already stuffed mailboxes before Election Day.

Although, if the new reported contributions from the last 24 hours are any indication, some campaigns might continue to keep sending out ads anyway — with a last-minute cash injection to help them. 

According to longtime campaign consultants, some campaign staffers typically bring donuts to the mail workers as a thank-you. “I’m old enough to remember when it was a case of Jameson,” said Eric Jaye, a political consultant.  

—Kelly Waldron

Scotty Jacobs, a District 5 candidate running to replace Supervisor Dean Preston, has amassed some unusual expenses while on the campaign trail.

He’s paid some $3,272 for Lyfts and Ubers, $2,969 on food for staff and donor meetings, $2,610 on party buses, and almost $5,000 on fundraisers at a cocktail lounge and Cooperstown S.F. That is far, far more than his rivals spent on food or fundraisers — and none of them rented party buses.

“The party bus and Cooperstown — all of those have been fundraisers, they haven’t been parties,” Jacobs said. “We have to be really creative with the ways we raise large amounts of money quickly.” 

Read more in our piece “Party buses, DJs, boats: Scotty Jacobs livin’ large on D5 campaign trail.”

—Joe Rivano Barros

Mayoral candidates have taken to social media in a big way this election season — perhaps pulled kicking and screaming by their youthful handlers.

Aaron Peskin has to react to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” Mark Farrell asks his daughter if good fiscal policy is “brat,” Daniel Lurie’s campaign team insist his playform is “very demure, very mindful,” while London Breed prefers Beyoncé, on- and offline.

Read more in our piece “Kamala Harris isn’t the only ‘brat’: How S.F. mayoral candidates use social media.”

—Joe Rivano Barros

Labor unions have gone all out in District 1, the tight race between the incumbent Supervisor Connie Chan and her once-and-future rival Marjan Philhour: They have spent $801,279 to bolster Chan and attack Philhour, a bulk of the over $2 million going into the supervisorial contest.

It is by far the most expensive supervisor race of the year, one of two “priority races” for labor unions, alongside District 5.

“I’m not the money candidate in this race,” said Philhour.

Bianca Polovina, president of IFPTE Local 21, thinks otherwise: “Money that comes from working people and unions is fundamentally different from money that comes from real-estate developers and extremely wealthy people and organizations.”

—Joe Rivano Barros

Daniel Lurie leads San Francisco’s mayoral contest — at least, according to a survey commissioned by his team. 

The survey predicts a two-way tie between Lurie, with 26 percent of first choice votes and incumbent Mayor London Breed, with 23 percent. When second choice votes are counted, however, the survey says Lurie bests Breed 55-45. The results are remarkably similar to a San Francisco Chronicle poll released last week.

To reach this conclusion, 600 people were interviewed in English online and over the phone on Oct. 26 and 27, according to a memo shared by Lurie’s campaign. The margin of error is 4 percent.

Their predicted results are as follows: 

—Abigail Vân Neely