Moderate group already has Preston in crosshairs
Emboldened by preliminary results from Tuesday’s election, a San Francisco advocacy group aligned with moderate politicians is already launching an effort to unseat one of the city’s most progressive supervisors two years from now.
Grow SF said Wednesday that it was forming a political action committee to oppose
District Five Supervisor Dean Preston’s prospective 2024 reelection bid. Though that election is still a long way off, the group, which has close ties to the tech industry, is trying to get a head start on fundraising while encouraging a moderate opponent to run against Preston.
The committee is an attempt to build off positive signs that
the city’s moderate bloc is seeing in this month’s election — even as the results are not yet finalized, with more than 100,000 ballots left to count as of Wednesday. Preston, a democratic socialist and former tenant rights lawyer, is a frequent target of criticism by San Francisco moderates who strongly disagree with his approach to housing policy and other issues.
“We want people to know that there’s gonna be support for someone to challenge him,” said Grow SF Director Sachin Agarwal. “He’s completely detached from popular opinion in San Francisco. His views don’t align with what people want.”
Agarwal pointed to Preston’s support for the Proposition M vacancy tax, which was leading Tuesday but has been opposed by Grow SF, as well as his vote against a housing project on the site of a Stevenson Street parking lot last year. He said Preston suffered from a “scarcity mindset” that is hostile to San Francisco’s need for a major uptick in new home construction to address the housing crisis. Agarwal also cited Preston’s support for former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, among other concerns.
“He’s just out of touch,” Agarwal said.
Preston’s office did not comment on the committee’s creation Tuesday. But in the past, Preston has defended his record on housing, including by pointing to his authorship of Proposition I, a successful 2020 ballot measure that raised taxes on sales of buildings worth more than $10 million in a move he intended to raise money for affordable housing. Preston has also been an advocate for tenant protections, and in the most recent city budget, he secured tens of millions of dollars for affordable housing projects.
Grow SF leaders said they were buoyed by vote totals released Tuesday that showed several of their preferred moderate candidates in the lead. Among them were District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and District Six Supervisor Matt Dorsey, both of whom were ahead of their closest opponents by large margins, and District Four candidate Joel Engardio, who had a slim lead over incumbent Supervisor Gordon Mar.
Preston, who frequently clashes with Mayor London Breed, was first elected narrowly in 2019 and then re-elected by a wide margin one year later. The boundaries of his district changed during the city’s redistricting process this year to include the Tenderloin, as well as the Fillmore, Western Addition, Haight-Ashbury and some other neighborhoods he already represented.
He’s not the only supervisor whom Grow SF might target in two years, as five other districts will be on the ballot and Agarwal said the effort against Preston was “just the start.”