Progressive challenger Aaron Peskin disrupts San Francisco mayoral race
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — In a move anticipated by political insiders, San Francisco Board of Supervisors President and District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin officially announced his candidacy for mayor. Peskin is a tested lawmaker with more than two decades of experience representing San Francisco voters and is considered the dominant progressive in a race crowded by moderate candidates.
While a progressive has not won the mayoral seat since Art Agnos in 1987, some political analysts say Peskin could carry enough clout to rally the city’s liberal base – around 35% of city voters – to win under San Francisco’s ranked-choice voting system.
KRON4 Anchor Stephanie Lin sat down with Peskin to talk about his campaign and why voters should trust him to lead the city.
Below are excerpts from that interview. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
KRON4: You’ve been playing this game of chess that is politics for some time. Why run for mayor now?
Peskin: I’m now running for mayor because I love the city. I cherish its neighborhoods; I cherish the incredible characters that make this such a special city. And let’s be real. San Francisco is struggling. I have 25 years of experience and know how. And I want to make San Francisco the city that knows how again.
KRON4: What do you think you can accomplish as mayor that you couldn’t as supervisor?
Peskin: I have a history as a collaborator. I’ve been elected by my colleagues three times as their president — primarily because I have been able to forge compromise and bring folks together. And that’s something that is sorely needed in the mayor’s office. I became chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party for four years through those same abilities, through listening and working with people to solve some of our most pressing challenges, like homelessness and open air, drug dealing and our housing crisis.
KRON4: Progressives haven’t done too well over the last several elections. We saw this with Chesa Boudin and the school board. What makes you think that you can change the narrative?
Peskin: I have always been a practical progressive. I have always upheld that public safety is a progressive value. I’ve always upheld that fiscal prudence is a progressive value. But the root of the word progressive is really about progress, is really about moving the city forward. And in my case, being progressive has really been about listening to and bringing governmental action to folks who need the government the most — our working population as compared to the moderates who are much more akin to the largest special interests and big businesses.
KRON4: Do you see an uphill climb when it comes to winning this race?
Peskin: I don’t think anybody who runs for office should take anything for granted. No contest for mayor is going to be easy, but I already have a lot of very heartening early support, and it’s a long way between now and November.
KRON4: Let’s talk a bit about your opponents in this race. Mayor London Breed’s team calls you “synonymous with intimidation and dysfunction — the Terminator.” Mark Farrell’s team says, and I’m quoting again, “you are abusive, toxic, not helpful in addressing public safety.” Your response?
Peskin: Well, let me say the Terminator, I believe, became governor. But putting that aside. I want this to be a positive race. San Francisco has been through a hard time. I don’t think San Franciscans need to or deserve to hear the politics of negativity. If we’re going to solve San Francisco’s problem, we need to do it in a positive and collaborative fashion.
So, I reject that. It’s frankly immature. It is not moral for those individuals to be saying that, but I’m not going to stoop to that level. I’m going to really talk about what I envision for San Francisco and not get into the mud with those people.
KRON4: You mention (in your campaign materials) your own personal story of recovery and how that relates to building recovery for San Francisco. Can you walk us through that?
Peskin: Sure. It’s very public. I was struggling with alcohol abuse a number of years ago. I was able to turn that around. And I realize that recovery is not something you do by yourself. It’s something that you do with others. And I was extremely heartened by the support that I got from my family, from the community that got me through that. And I actually think that’s exactly what San Francisco needs, is to reject that negativity, to realize that we are all in it together and that we can recover.
KRON4: People close to city hall say that they’ve never seen the relationship between the mayor and the SF Board of Supervisors so fragmented. You’ve also been known historically to engage in your fair share of arm twisting over the years. How are you going to work to build consensus between the mayor’s office and the board of supervisors, if you are elected?
Peskin: As a legislator, one is measured on getting legislation passed as a mayor, one is measured on how one reads the city. And compromise is important….but not compromising your ideals and your values is equally important.
KRON4: Let’s talk about the major issues facing Francisco right now. If you are elected mayor, what is the first problem you’d address?
Peskin: I think the most important thing for a government to do for its people is to have people be safe. Right now, public safety is being weaponized in some cases to make people feel afraid for political purposes. I have voted every year for police budgets, for overtime. I have publicly expressed my plan for a college-to-community program to bring folks out of our high schools into college and directly into our police force, which I think will deal with our vacant 300 fully-funded positions that are in our budget that we’re having trouble filling.
KRON4: Let’s talk a bit about the fentanyl crisis. More than 800 people died in San Francisco from overdoses just last year. You’ve been critical of Mayor Breed’s proposal, Prop F, which San Francisco voters did pass to address this problem. What would you do to address the issue of fentanyl?
Peskin: I support and have publicly supported arresting anybody who deals fentanyl or other life-threatening drugs. Those people need to be held accountable. They need to be put in jail. Drug users, on the other hand, need services. They need to be helped to overcome their addictions — like I did. And those services are wanted in San Francisco… We need to do much better around treatment, even compelled treatment. I have supported conservatorship for people who cannot take care of themselves. In many cases, we’re going to have to mandate treatment for individuals.
KRON4: These sound like great ideas, and. But why weren’t you able to achieve them as the president of the SF Board of Supervisors?
Peskin: This is a super strong mayor system of government. The Board of Supervisors can appropriate funds. The Board of Supervisors can pass laws. But the captain of the team, the quarterback of the team in San Francisco is the mayor.
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KRON4: So basically, you’re casting responsibility.
Peskin: 100%. I mean, listen, we’ve had mayors who I’ve have agreed with and disagreed with, but who were remarkable implementers. Mayor Brown and I had our differences over public policy. But as a mayor, as a chief executive officer, unparalleled, Mayor (Gavin) Newsom who I was president of the board when he was mayor, also a very accomplished chief executive officer.
That is something that I would bring to this. I have quarter of a century of experience. I know how government works. I have deep connections in every department, and I think I can bring that to bear as mayor.
KRON4: One of your opponents, Mark Farrell. He said he wants to bring in the National Guard to address the fentanyl problem. Is that something you agree with?
Peskin: We do not need the National Guard patrolling the streets of San Francisco. We can do that. What we do need to do is to better coordinate.
Listen, part of where people go into crisis is also intimately connected to housing. How do you make sure that people continue to be housed through eviction protection mechanisms? How do we have enough shelter? This is a time for San Francisco to invest in 2,000 shelter beds. And if you can get that population housed and then into more stable housing, you’re going to see a lot more people who are not turning to drugs on our streets.
KRON4: How do you respond to critics who say you’re anti-housing?
Peskin: That’s just political speech that is hyperbolic, immature and incorrect. I have voted in my time on the Board of Supervisors to approve over 100,000 units of housing in San Francisco… I’ve also stood up for the preservation of our neighborhoods that are the envy of our population, and people around the world, neighborhoods like Chinatown, neighborhoods like North Beach, that are remarkably special, that have to be treated with care. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. And I believe that we can save San Francisco, grow San Francisco without destroying, destroying and ruining San Francisco.
KRON4: Are you in favor of homeless encampments, sweeps or not?
Peskin: We need a place for those people to go. Because what happens in encampments is people are pushed from one neighborhood to another. That is not a solution. A solution is 2000 shelter beds. A solution is affordable housing. That is a long-term solution. Yes, people should be able to walk down our sidewalks. The encampments are not tolerable, but we need a systemic solution.
KRON4: Your opponent Mark Farrell has said that if he’s elected mayor, he’s going to clear the streets where he’s going to speak of San Francisco to all homeless encampments within six months. Do you think that’s feasible?
Peskin: I think real, viable candidates for office should not make false or fake promises. I think that we are in a position to lease up and offer 2,000 additional shelter beds, and I have a plan for that. We know that San Francisco is under a court injunction whereby we cannot ask people to move if we cannot make them a bona fide offer of shelter.
KRON4: You are campaigning on a promise to bring more housing for the middle class.
Peskin: San Francisco has a missing middle. The city has a lot of luxury housing that is not affordable to most of us. And the city has also been able to maintain resident occupancy hotels for the poorest of us. But the missing middle needs to be addressed. And I have a Marshall Plan for dealing with workforce housing. The city can serve as a conduit to get tax-exempt bonds that can be used for our workforce, for our janitors and our hotel workers and our police and firefighters.
KRON4: What are your plans to revitalize the downtown area? We see what’s happening with Macy’s and the (Union Square) mall.
Peskin: There’s an opportunity to bring arts and culture and entertainment in downtown because lease prices have fallen, making downtown a destination neighborhood, which it never was. I’ve been trying to do that with special little spots like Belden Alley and Claude Lane and bringing more activity downtown.
KRON4: What would you do to revitalize and catalyze tech to come back to San Francisco?
Peskin: Let’s be honest with ourselves. The nature of work has changed profoundly. And some of those companies are not going to fully restart in the same ways. So we have to look at what to do with that vacant space. But there are also other ways to attract folks and tax incentives and making sure that people are paying their fair share, that it is not a disincentive to job growth.
KRON4: San Francisco is being branded as the AI capital of the nation. Is that still something we’re trying to achieve here?
Peskin: There is no question that one of the bright spots in downtown is the growth of AI. And that is going to be a growth sector in the years ahead. But we shouldn’t put all of our eggs in one basket. I mean, historically, San Francisco’s downtown was finance insurance, real estate.
In recent years, it became disproportionately tech. In order to have a healthy downtown, we need to have a diversity of different industries in our downtown. Some of those spaces can be maker spaces. Some of those spaces can be biotech spaces. Some of those spaces can be educational opportunities for universities, for extension programs. So we’ve really got to be much more open to a broad range of thought.
And let me just say this, which is, as vacancy has increased, lease rates have decreased, and inevitably people are going to take advantage of those lower rates. So the market is also going to take care of some of this.
KRON4: There are those pointing the finger at progressivism and saying that ideology is to blame. Your response?
Peskin: I think San Franciscans and San Francisco are some of the smartest, most-educated voters in America. I think that they can see through the finger-pointing. I think that they want progress. I think they want fairness. I think they want equity and equality. And those are the values that I have long embraced. And they want somebody who is practical.
KRON4: How will San Francisco look under Mayor Aaron Peskin?
Peskin: San Francisco — under Mayor Aaron Peskin — is going to look like a caring city that gets things done. San Francisco is one of the most incredible cities in America, in the entire world. And we’ve been a beacon of progressive values. I have always been extremely hands-on. I’ve been hands-on with my colleagues, responsive to the public and always worked in the public interest.
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