Is San Francisco still a liberal city? The answer is "yes," of course but they're a lot less liberal than they were two years ago.
In 2022, San Francisco voters recalled far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin, whose radical lineage included two parents who were convicted of murdering police officers, 1960s radicals Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert. Fellow radicals Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, friends with Barack Obama, later adopted Boudin.
Perhaps that was the epitome of San Francisco radicalism. We'll have to wait and see. Since that recall effort, Mayor London Breed has governed less radically, and she's running for re-election in November on a platform that calls for more police officers and cleaning up the streets.
On Tuesday, San Francisco voters passed two referendums that could only be called "conservative." Proposition F called for welfare recipients to be tested for drugs before receiving benefits. And Proposition E expanded police surveillance powers and lessened oversight.
Both measures passed with more than 60% of the vote.
Democratic Mayor London Breed, who's up for re-election this year and had the measures placed on the ballot for voter consideration, celebrated on Tuesday night.
"It is clear that people want to see changes around public safety. What’s exciting about this for me is I get the kind of tools I need to continue the work we’re doing," Breed told reporters, according to local station KQED.
She added on X, "Thank you to the voters for passing Prop F to bring more treatment and accountability to San Francisco. This is how we get more people the help they need and change what’s happening in our City." She also wrote Prop E gives "our officers more tools to do their jobs."
“To see the initial, promising results is incredible,” Breed said while working the room at Anina, where a crowd of moderate Democrats gathered to celebrate.
On the losing side was Proposition B, which was billed as a new way to fund the police but which voters saw as a means to cut the police budget. Another winner was the long-vilified San Francisco police.
San Francisco police scored a political win in Prop. E. With the ballot measure passing, cops will have more latitude to use drones and other technology and chase suspects; the measure is also intended to reduce paperwork for officers. Perhaps even more significantly, Prop. E may be a sign that the political winds around policing have shifted. The Police Officers Association, which was viewed as a pariah for years, has reemerged as a political player. Prop. E's victory could embolden the union further.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and San Francisco won't be reformed in a single election. But it appears that the less radical elements in San Francisco's government and civil society are asserting their authority and looking to push back against the madness.
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