Bilal Mahmood, an entrepreneur and District 5 supervisor candidate, repeatedly picked fights with incumbent Dean Preston at a Wednesday night debate, scolding the incumbent for saying he would defund the police, and for criticizing national policies around police funding.
“You are sending a message to police officers that their work is ‘pointless’ and that is why we are unable to hire staff and we are unable to arrest fentanyl dealers today,” Mahmood said.
Preston shot back.
“If you want a politician who is just going to, every budget season, write a blank check to this police department of $50 million to $100 million extra, with no accountability on how that’s being spent — if you want that kind of person — maybe he’s [sitting] to my right.”
“He is,” Mahmood agreed
“So you’re a rubber stamp for police budgets?” Preston said incredulously at the UC Hastings-hosted debate. “We have a serious job to do as legislators. Our job is oversight. I think you disqualify yourself if you’re not willing to actually provide oversight,” he added.
The conversation continued to escalate when Scotty Jacobs, another candidate, chimed in and attacked Preston for what he alleged to be a lack of cooperation between his office and Tenderloin station.
Preston immediately disputed Jacobs’ (and Mahmood’s) claims. “The idea that we don’t engage with the police department is ridiculous,” he said.
“I went to the Tenderloin police station and the captain said you’ve never been there,” said Jacobs. “So you’re telling me the police officer, the captain of the police department, is lying to me?”
Mahmood and Preston also sparred on the subject of Mahmood’s profession. For months, Mahmood frequently referred to himself as a neuroscientist, but following criticism from a group of neuroscientists, who questioned Mahmood’s credentials, he subsequently removed any mention of the profession from his campaign materials.
Mahmood, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Stanford, where he did undergraduate research in a neuroscience lab, has never worked as a neuroscientist in his professional life.
“I was always referring to my academic training,” said Mahmood. “When I saw this as being misunderstood, I updated my website to clarify that,” he added. Mahmood criticized Preston for taking issue with this.
Preston countered by pointing out that Mahmood’s campaign ads read “Bilal Mahmood: Neuroscientist.” “It’s a very strange thing to do when you’re not a neuroscientist,” said Preston. “That is an issue of betraying trust to voters.”
Many responses during the forum followed the same pattern: Mahmood, and sometimes Jacobs, would target Preston, and Preston would give a rebuttal.
When Eleni Balakrishnan, Mission Local reporter and the night’s moderator, asked who they would rank second in the November election, Mahmood said “maybe Scotty,” and Jacobs said “Bilal,” revealing a likely alliance.
Meanwhile, Preston and Autumn Looijen said they remained undecided, while Allen Jones, said “I am not supporting any candidate other than myself,” to which the audience laughed.
Preston was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2019, in a special election to finish London Breed’s term as District 5 supervisor. He is a tenant rights lawyer, and is the first Democratic Socialist to be elected to the board in over 40 years.
While Preston has lived in District 5 for 28 years, four of his opponents are political newcomers and/or new residents to the district. Mahmood moved to the Tenderloin last year, while Jacobs moved to the district in 2022, Jones in 2021 and Looijen in 2020.
On Wednesday, and throughout the campaign, Preston’s main rivals have tried to set themselves apart from him by focusing on law and order policies, and on building more market-rate housing.
When Balakrishnan asked the candidates if they support rent control, one by one, the candidates said yes. But when asked about Proposition 33, which would expand the city’s ability to enact rent control, Looijen and Jacobs said they opposed the measure.
Addressing Jacobs, Balakrishnan said: “You’ve supported deporting fentanyl dealers and encampment sweeps and you oppose things like Prop. 33. How do these policies represent the majority of District 5?” she asked. She reminded him that D5 is “a very progressive district made up of 70 percent renter households.”
Jacobs argued that placing more rent-control restrictions would have an adverse effect on affordability. It would, he said, disincentivize development, which is “foundational to actually making housing more affordable.”
Meanwhile, Balakrishnan also pressed Preston on his housing platform: “Dean, some of your critics have said that you’ve obstructed housing development with some of your votes,” she said. “How would you respond to these claims?”
“We have actually moved forward with the development of 14 housing development sites across District 5, of over 2,000 units, over 80 percent of them affordable.”
“The issue people have with my housing record is that I focus so much on affordable housing. I think that’s what the people of District 5 want, because they can’t afford most of the market-rate stuff,” he added.
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