Bloomberg donates $200K to Breed campaign committee
Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York and an unsuccessful presidential contender, is backing San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s reelection effort with a $200,000 donation.
Campaign finance documents show Bloomberg recently donated the money to Forward Action SF, Supporting London Breed for Mayor 2024, an independent political committee that is not directly affiliated with Breed’s reelection campaign.
But Bloomberg is not the only big donor pumping money into the race, nor is his donation the largest. Billionaire businesswoman Mimi Haas, the mother of Daniel Lurie, one of Breed’s opponents in the race, has given $1 million to an independent political committee supporting her son’s candidacy, a representative confirmed Tuesday.
Bloomberg served as mayor of New York for three terms, from 2002 to 2013. When Bloomberg mounted an unsuccessful run for president in 2020, Breed endorsed him after now-Vice President Kamala Harris dropped out. He positioned himself as a centrist fixer-upper who could appeal to both Democrats and Republicans. Breed has tried to occupy a similar position in San Francisco, focusing on ways to fix its sclerotic bureaucracy and focusing on public safety.
At the time, Breed told the Chronicle that Bloomberg’s “track record of what he’s done as New York City mayor and what he’s done afterward has been significant” in her decision.
Now, it appears he’s returning the favor.
Spokespeople for Bloomberg and the political action committee were not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon.
“Mike Bloomberg is a mayor who knows what it takes to address big-city challenges, that’s why he’s supporting Mayor Breed,” campaign spokesperson Maggie Muir said. “He’s been working with her on issues around homelessness and making government more efficient, so he understands firsthand the work she’s been doing and its impact on San Francisco.”
The infusion of cash comes amid what promises to be a high-stakes political contest, where Breed faces challenges from Supervisor Ahsha Safaí and Lurie, a nonprofit founder and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune. Another possible contender is Mark Farrell a former supervisor and interim mayor, who told the Chronicle last year he was considering jumping into the race after supporters urged him to challenge Breed. Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin’s name has also been floated as a possible candidate, though he has told the Chronicle he has no plans to run.
After his stint as mayor of the Big Apple and his more ambitious pursuit of the White House, Bloomberg has turned his attention to local politics across the U.S. and has mentored hundreds of civic leaders through a leadership camp he sponsors at Harvard University. Some 275 mayors and hundreds of top aides attended the yearlong Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative in the past six years.
“Very few cities have done the math to think about ‘what kind of capacity do we need internally to summon, nurture, feed, maintain complex collaborations over time?’ ” James Anderson, the head of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ government innovations programs, told Time magazine in July. “That is a skillset and a competency that is absolutely required in this day and age.”
Beyond Bloomberg’s contribution, the proBreed committee has also reported donations from several prominent real estate developers, including TMG Partners and Prado Group. It reported raising more than $265,000 in its Jan. 29 filing with the city’s Ethics Commission. The committee recently began advertising in Chineselanguage newspapers like Sing Tao Daily.
The political committee supporting Lurie, which calls itself Believe in SF Lurie for Mayor 2024, has also recently started advertising on billboards in the city. Dan Newman, a strategist for the committee, said it has so far raised about $3.5 million from more than 60 donors, including the $1 million contribution from Lurie’s mother.
Corey Cook, a professor of political science at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, said that while candidates’ donors become a side issue in every campaign, it typically doesn’t resonate much with voters.
“Voters’ decision to support or not support a candidate comes first,” he said. “How you treat this info comes second. … Do I think it will turn the dial in any way? No.”