Leno 1st to enter 2018 mayor’s race CITY INSIDER
Former supervisor and state legislator speeds up campaign
Mark Leno, a veteran San Francisco Democrat who rose from the Board of Supervisors to serve 14 years in the state Capitol, on Thursday became the first major candidate to enter the mayor’s race to be decided in June.
Leno, who pulled his candidate’s papers Thursday, had already spent much of the year fundraising and appearing at political events after announcing in May his bid for the 2019 election. What would have been a protracted two-year campaign suddenly became a six-month sprint following Mayor Ed Lee’s unexpected death on Tuesday.
The pool of candidates appears to have grown smaller, and Leno will probably face competition from Supervisor Mark Farrell, Assemblyman David Chiu — who would have to give up his re-election campaign to run for mayor — and acting Mayor London Breed, who was thrown into the city’s top job overnight. Supervisor Jane Kim, who will be termed out next year, also is seen as a potential contender.
On Friday, Leno was sanguine about his odds. During the past several months, he’s built a platform around the quality-of-life issues that San Francisco voters seem to care about most: homelessness, the scarcity of affordable housing, public transportation and traffic congestion.
“I’ve already done well over a dozen house parties and fundraisers,” he said.
If elected, Leno would be the city’s first openly gay mayor. He has fervent support among progressives in what is expected to be a tightly contested race. Members of the “city family” with ties to for-
mer Mayor Willie Brown are already coalescing around Breed. Some highlight the cultural importance of having an African American woman in the city’s top seat, considering the momentum building around civil rights and women’s equality in the era of President Trump.
Chiu, who is also a former supervisor, could be a formidable challenger to Leno if he decides to run.
Leno has already raised about $400,000 and clinched endorsements from four supervisors —
Ahsha Safai, Aaron Peskin, Sandra Lee Fewer and Norman Yee — as well as state Sen. Scott Wiener, who was at one point considered a potential mayoral candidate but said this week that he will not run.
— Rachel Swan