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by\u00a0JOE RIVANO BARROS<\/a><\/strong> SEPTEMBER 27, 2024 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Mayor-London-Breed-and-Dolores-Huerta-6.8.2024.jpg?fit=1200%2C938&ssl=1\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter<\/strong>, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/em><\/a> \/ \u95b1\u8b80\u4e2d\u6587\u7248<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mission Local is publishing campaign dispatches for each of the major contenders in the mayor\u2019s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: London Breed. Read earlier dispatches <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dolores Huerta, the storied labor leader and co-founder of the United Farm Workers<\/a> with Cesar Chavez, has waded into San Francisco\u2019s mayoral race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stay informed on local elections \u2014 sign up for Mission Local’s free daily newsletter<\/strong> today!Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Friday, Huerta endorsed Mayor London Breed for re-election, pointing specifically to Breed\u2019s work during the pandemic when Latino residents were hit with Covid-19 at record rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe demonstrated her leadership during the pandemic by not only delivering one of the nation\u2019s strongest public health responses but also providing critical resources to support those most impacted by COVID-19 such as low-income Latino essential workers,\u201d Huerta, 94, wrote in a statement, referencing the phrase she created: \u201c\u00a1S\u00ed se puede con London Breed!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Longtime Mission District leaders acknowledged that Huerta is a prized endorsement for the mayor: Her pick will be an automatic for many Latino voters, said Tracy Gallardo, a founder of the Latino Task Force<\/a>, which was critical in advocating for testing, vaccinations, and other aid in the Mission in the midst of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve worked on other campaigns where the minute [Huerta] dropped an endorsement, every Latino caller, that is what we used.\u201d The response, Gallardo said, was immediate: \u201c\u2018Oh Dolores Huerta? Si, c\u00f3mo que claro que si. Who do you want me to vote for? Okay.\u2019 You say Dolores Huerta, you slap that on a flier and you put that out, you got the vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, though Huerta pointed to Breed\u2019s pandemic response, Latinos did not fare well in San Francisco during the height of Covid. San Francisco acted quickly in the early days and had a lower overall rate of infection, but Latinos in the city did worse<\/em> than Latinos in other, heavier-hit parts of the country<\/a>, as Mission Local found in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Breed did not respond immediately to the work of UCSF and the Latino Task Force \u2014 experts were perplexed<\/a> by the city\u2019s lack of attention to testing Latino residents<\/a> in the initial months. But by late 2020 she had come around to the strategy of neighborhood hubs, which were key in testing and vaccination, and allocated $28.5 million<\/a> to various Covid efforts by Latino organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mayor has touted her pandemic-era leadership time and again<\/a> on the campaign trail, and Gallardo said that Breed had saved lives during Covid by working with the Latino Task Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe gave us the emergency resources that we needed, and she continues to support that work,\u201d said Gallardo, who said she is backing Breed. \u201cThe 12,000 people the Latino Task Force served, they would not have been served without the resources they gave us. Did it save lives? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the run up to Election Day, Latino voters have played a less prominent role than other demographics, particularly Asian voters, and candidates are seldom seen in the Mission District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mayoral candidates have all worked hard<\/a> to reach out to voters in heavily-Asian neighborhoods like Chinatown<\/a>, the Sunset, and Portola<\/a> to wrap up an electorate that makes up 37 percent of the city. They have taken out ads in Sing Tao Daily and World Journal, and attended Chinese banquet after Chinese banquet<\/a>. Breed\u2019s endorsement page<\/a> has an entire section on \u201cChinese community leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mayor has toured the Mission<\/a>, Gallardo said she has met with her and other Mission District leaders, and she will join her mayoral rivals at a Latino-focused forum at Gray Area<\/a> in the Mission on Saturday. But still, none of the candidates\u2019 campaigns have focused heavily on Latinos, who make up 15.6 percent of the city\u2019s residents, according to census data<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Huerta will bolster Breed\u2019s efforts. In a statement, the mayor called Huerta a \u201cliving legend\u201d and \u201cicon of the Latino community,\u201d pointing particularly to her family\u2019s union history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy grandfather was a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, my mother was a member of Laborers Local 261, and my aunt and uncle were Teamsters. And I\u2019m a proud former member of the San Francisco Municipal Executives Association,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Huerta\u2019s endorsement did not mean the moon and the stars to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile Dolores Huerta is an icon to the Latino and labor community, Mayor Breed has been anything but to the Latino and labor communities,\u201d said Michael Rouppet, the co-president of the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club. Rouppet said that Breed has not sat down with the group, which subsequently endorsed her rival<\/a> Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, and that she has not been receptive to the group\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLondon Breed was the only candidate who flatly refused to meet with the only Latino Democratic club here in San Francisco,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see that she has been engaging with our club or our issues,\u201d he added, pointing to policing, the chaotic street vending situation along Mission Street, and displacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add to that deportations: Under the direction of Breed\u2019s appointee, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, San Francisco has cooperated with federal law enforcement<\/a> to deport accused drug dealers<\/a>. A narrative has emerged in the city, partly fueled by a July 2023 San Francisco Chronicle<\/em> piece<\/a>, that Hondurans are the backbone of fentanyl dealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just Monday, public defenders rallied on the steps of the Hall of Justice<\/a> to point out that a Honduran man charged with drug dealing had been acquitted by a jury, which found that he had been a victim of human trafficking and forced into dealing \u2014 the first time the office had won such a ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the jury\u2019s decision, Jenkins has so far refused to provide the man with papers needed for a U-visa, a type of visa meant for victims or witnesses of crime, meaning his stay in the country is under threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That, said Lariza Dugan-Cuadra, the executive director of the Central American migrant-focused nonprofit CARECEN, reflected a \u201csubjective approach\u201d to the justice system from the DA, and was symptomatic of a larger narrative. The city\u2019s use of deportations, she said, is not only counterproductive in terms of public safety \u2014 by making it less likely migrants cooperate with law enforcement \u2014 but perpetuates negative, sweeping stereotypes about Central Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And none of the mayoral candidates have done enough to reach out to the migrant community to counteract that narrative, Dugan-Cuadra said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe think it\u2019s a missed opportunity that candidates are not speaking to people who migrate,\u201d she said, acknowledging that new immigrants do not vote but saying they deserve to hear from candidates for office nonetheless. \u201cThey\u2019re economic, cultural, drivers of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, for Breed, the Huerta pickup is unequivocally good news. The election is a little over a month away, the polls are tight, and every single vote will matter come Nov. 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m honored to have Dolores standing by me in my re-election,\u201d Breed said in her statement, \u201cas I work to uphold the same rights and values she has spent her whole life defending.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n joe.rivanobarros@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe was born in Sweden, where half of his family received asylum after fleeing Pinochet, spent his early childhood in Chile, and moved to Oakland when he was eight. He attended Stanford University for political science and worked at Mission Local as a reporter after graduating. He then spent time at YIMBY Action and as a partner for the strategic communications firm The Worker Agency. He rejoined Mission Local as an editor in 2023.More by Joe Rivano Barros<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The longtime Chicana labor activist backs Breed. Will it help her in the Mission? by\u00a0JOE RIVANO BARROS SEPTEMBER 27, 2024 (MissionLocal.org) Sign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up Leer en espa\u00f1ol \/ \u95b1\u8b80\u4e2d\u6587\u7248 Mission Local is publishing campaign dispatches for each… Continue reading
\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMORE FIELD NOTES FROM THE MAYOR\u2019S RACE<\/mark><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSee how they run: Mayor Breed skips likely last mayoral forum, gets blasted in abstentia<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"See](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/breed-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSee how they run: Breed, Lurie trade barbs in Latinx-focused Mission mayoral forum<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"See](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_0616-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSee how they run: S.F. mayoral candidates promise more Asian appointees in Chinatown forum<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
JOE RIVANO BARROSSENIOR EDITOR<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n