by Randy Shaw on July 15, 2024 (BeyondChron.org)
Will Breed get sole endorsement?
DCCC Faces Big Decision on Mayor’s Race
The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) is scheduled to make its mayoral and supervisor endorsements on July 24. So if you want to lobby Party members you have a week to do so.
Here’s why the November 2024 Party endorsements are more complicated than ever before.
Democratic Disunity
San Francisco Democrats have long been split between “progressives” and “moderates.” But only in the past two decades has this split resulted in well-funded battles for SF DCCC control.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s political giant Carole Migden ran the DCCC with a firm hand. Everyone understood this. There was little public complaint. Candidates and ballot measures were occasionally accused of “buying” endorsements but that remained an insider dispute. Some also questioned why so many DCCC seats were guaranteed to state and federal officeholders. But again, this remained under the public radar.
Candidates endorsed by the DCCC typically won and Migden was a fundraising dynamo. She kept everyone happy—or happy enough.
The first sign of public division came when Scott Wiener served as DCCC President from 2006-08. Progressive supervisors, particularly Chris Daly, Jake McGoldrick and Aaron Peskin, strongly opposed Wiener. All three ran for the DCCC and won. This led to Peskin’s election as head of the DCCC in July 2008. He remained in that position until 2012.
Since 2008 rival slates have competed for DCCC control. But never has so much money been spent and the races been so high profile as in March 2024. Moderates won all but six seats and now have exclusive control over the November 2024 slate card.
Here’s what that means.
DCCC’s Reduced Influence
With the DCCC’s ideological conflicts widely exposed, progressive voters are unlikely to be swayed by its endorsements. There are still thousands of voters across the city who don’t follow local politics and traditionally vote the SF Democratic Party card. But it will be nowhere near as influential as in the past.
There’s also the problem of the mayor’s endorsement.
As I previously wrote, moderates are split over using RCV in the mayor’s race. Mayor Breed wants the sole Party endorsement. GrowSF and TogetherSF Action believe voting for only a single candidate helps Aaron Peskin win.
The committee primarily includes backers of Breed and Mark Farrell (Jade Tu, Farrell’s campaign manager, is on the DCCC). The question is whether Breed gets the sole endorsement or Farrell gets a second-place nod. The DCCC will not do a dual number one endorsement, as the Neighbors for a Better San Francisco did for Farrell and Daniel Lurie.
Which option makes the SF Democratic Party slate card more influential across the board? I assume DCCC members are considering this in making its mayoral endorsement.
Impact on Supervisor, Other Races
Candidates in competitive races certain to get the DCCC nod—Marjan Philhour in D1, Danny Sauter in D3, Bilal Mahmood in D5, and Michael Lai in D11—all benefit from having the most influential DCCC slate card possible. I wonder if these candidates are weighing in with DCCC members as to how their mayoral endorsement impacts supervisor races.
Trevor Chandler, running in D9, is on the committee. It’s uncertain whether he will get the number one endorsement or share it with Roberto Hernandez (if the former, Hernandez would be the second choice).
Community College Board and School Board candidates as well as ballot measures also have a big stake in an influential Democratic Party card. It’s always been the down ballot races where the SF Democratic Party endorsement means the most. Most voters neither attend City College nor have kids in the city’s public schools. Many simply vote for who the Democratic Party recommends.
Here’s the list of DCCC members. There’s still time to contact them.
Randy Shaw
Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco
