Mission Local is publishing campaign dispatches for each of the major contenders in the mayor’s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: Ahsha Safaí. Read earlier dispatches here.
To the surprise of some, Ahsha Safaí, the District 11 supervisor and mayoral candidate from a working-class district, formed an alliance last week with Mark Farrell, the venture capitalist who once represented District 2, one of the wealthiest in the city.
Both say they will ask their supporters to rank each other second on the ballot — although on Farrell’s social media post about ranked-choice voting Thursday, he only asked voters to “rank Ahsha Safaí on your ballot,” not necessarily second.
In the ranked-choice voting system, voters can, in order of preference, rank up to 10 candidates. If voters follow the advice, the alliance will give Farrell a boost, as Safaí is running last among the five front-runners and will likely be eliminated in the early rounds of voting. His votes would go to Farrell.
But what’s in it for Safaí?
“A job,” one source speculated. “Maybe the head of some labor union. But I think Ahsha could’ve gotten those jobs without this alliance.”
Safaí, however, sees it as getting other voters to take a second look at him. “At the end of the day, I’m trying to put myself in a position to win.”
Perhaps more importantly, the alliance helps Safaí to unseat Mayor London Breed, one of Safaí’s goals from the beginning, when he announced his run for mayor back in May 2023.
“I started the campaign with the goal of challenging the mayor,” Safaí said. “We have the common goal of wanting change in the Mayor’s office.”
Safaí considered an alliance with Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who is closer to him on the political spectrum, but thinks Peskin, unlike Safaí, “could live with London being re-elected” (this is likely news to Peskin). Daniel Lurie, the Levi Strauss heir, doesn’t have the experience to lead the city, Safaí believes.
Safaí also likes Farrell’s labor record. For example, in 2017, then-supervisor Farrell introduced the Project Labor Agreement that requires contractors to adopt the collective bargaining agreements of various trade unions when bidding on some city projects.
Afterwards, Safaí took the lead on the legislation. Both candidates received support from the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, largely due to their work regarding the Project Labor Agreement.
“Every request I brought to him, from the Latino, Black community, he supported it,” Safaí said.
Earlier this week, Safaí had no second thoughts on his new alliance after Farrell faced a public letter signed by a consortium including three former mayors calling for him to be criminally investigated. The letter follows reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle and Mission Local regarding the commingling of funds between Farrell’s mayoral campaign committee and a ballot measure committee supporting Proposition D.
“It’s a rehashing of issues,” he said. “People are entitled to their opinions, of course, but I believe people who need to weigh in are election attorneys. I’m comfortable having him as the leader of the city.”
On the campaign trail, weeks from election day, Safaí says he is “fighting all the way to the end.” He found encouragement from the Mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, who came from behind to win the mayoral race in 2023. (That, however, was different, as Johnson won in a runoff election with one other candidate.)
A new San Francisco Chronicle survey also gave this candidate a morale boost. The vote compass, which has received more than 12,000 responses, asks voters to answer questions, and shows who they align with the most among the mayoral candidates.
“I did the survey. You are my guy!” said Holly Wong, who came up to Safaí during a nonprofit fundraiser on Wednesday night.
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