By Louise “Lou” Fischer–
As noted last year, 2022 is no ordinary year for elections, especially for the approximately 250,000 registered voters of Assembly District 17 (eastern side of San Francisco) who have a whopping four elections in one year. To review how we got here: corruption, resignations, and appointments that resulted in Dennis Herrera shifting from City Attorney to head of the Public Utilities Commission and Assemblyman David Chiu accepting Mayor Breed’s appointment to City Attorney. In one fell swoop (well, really two swoops,) Dennis does not have to run for office in 2023 (or ever again) and David can mercifully leave Sacramento, come back to San Francisco, live with his lovely wife, and raise his young son in person instead of over FaceTime.
Since none of the four candidates for Assembly received a majority of votes in the first of the four elections (February 15), the April 19 election is the runoff between former District 9 Supervisor David Campos and current District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney. While “to the victor go the spoils,” in this case, the spoils are limited and the winner will serve the remainder of Chiu’s term but must run again in the statewide June primary and November general elections to remain in office for the first full 2-year term. Assembly terms are only 2 years, so it’s a perpetual cycle of “campaign and run.”
If you are registered in Assembly District 17, you already received the shortest ballot in recent history—you only need to fill in one circle; it’ll take less time to vote than to lick the envelope. Save the included “I voted” sticker to wear proudly on Election Day and return the ballot by mail or in one of the many drop boxes throughout the city or bring it directly to City Hall on or before April 19. If you didn’t get a ballot, go to City Hall weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm, and during the two weekends leading up to Election Day, to vote in person.
This is predicted to be a low turnout election; there’s nothing else on the ticket and half the electorate isn’t thrilled with either candidate. Let’s be realistic, Chiu’s supporters are happy that he “came home” to San Francisco, but many are secretly sitting shivah (mourning) for the gaping hole he left in Sacramento. While I did not speak directly with current State Senator Scott Wiener, his lack of endorsement in this and the February 15 race telegraphs an attitude of “I don’t like anybody but I’ll have to work with the winner, so, whatever happens, I’ll make it work.” Chiu’s accomplishments in housing/homelessness advocacy, civil and LGBTQ rights, healthcare, education, and economic justice are a tough act to follow; supporters of Chiu are stuck choosing between the “least bad option.”
Campos and Haney are allies from the same side of the “blue versus more-blue” political spectrum in San Francisco. Interactions between the two were expected to be polite banter similar to the Warner Brothers Goofy Gophers cartoon characters (“after you, no I insist, after you”) and not the usual “knife fight in a phone booth.” Instead, they have raised the bar from “knife fight” to “chainsaw fight” by attacking each other’s’ credentials and accomplishments (or lack thereof).
Campos’ continued reference to Haney as “the Supervisor from the Tenderloin” is intended to spotlight the rampant problems of homelessness, drugs, and public safety in Haney’s district, while Haney maintains that Campos has not produced any meaningful improvements for the area in his role as Chief of Staff for current District Attorney Chesa Boudin (for which he is currently on leave, so that’s a specious argument). Detractors of Haney call him an over-educated (Stanford/Stanford) hypocritical chameleon in a suit, while Campos’ foes refer to him as an over-educated (Stanford/Harvard), anti-housing extremist in a suit (but with a snappy bow tie from his prodigious bow tie collection).
So, who is predicted to win? This is Haney’s race to lose; while separated by only 726 votes (out of 93,778) in the February election, the other two candidates, Bilal Mahmood and Thea Selby accounted for 28% of the votes. Mahmood has already endorsed Haney, but this could go either way; a high proportion of his 20,895 votes may go to Haney or voters may be so indifferent and not vote at all.
Both candidates have managed to trip over themselves and provoke voters. Haney canceled an Alice B. Toklas-sponsored debate that had already been scheduled and promoted because he was already in the lead so why should he bother showing up for a debate against an LGBTQ candidate in front of an LGBTQ audience? That said, the Alice Membership endorsed him anyhow, but anecdotal evidence implies that it was very close and more likely a result of Haney having more support among the more moderate Membership voters. Campos was recently criticized for comparing his underdog status to the situation in Ukraine, and while he explained that he was not minimizing the bloody conflict in Europe, in politics, “if you’re explaining you’re losing.”
I have had many ups and downs and a few knife fights of my own with Campos and I’ve had both good times and bad with Haney, but at the end of the day I’m voting for Campos for reasons of “heart versus head”—he’s my neighbor in Bernal Heights, I have a soft-spot for underdogs, and while I have supported many straight allies over LGBTQ candidates in other races (specifically Chiu over Campos in 2014), I’m concerned about the lack of LGBTQ representation in elected office so I’m going with the “gay guy.”
Don’t forget to vote because “elections have consequences.”
Louise (Lou) Fischer is a Former Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and has served as an appointed and elected Delegate for the State Democratic Party. She is a proud graduate of the Emerge California Women’s Democratic Leadership program, was a San Francisco Commissioner, and has served in leadership positions in multiple nonprofit and community-based organizations.
Published on April 7, 2022
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