Can SF mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie identify with the Everyman?

Lurie, who led the anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point for nearly two decades, admits he may not have personal experience of the other half's lives, but maintains his professional roles make up for it.

Swisher pointed to perhaps the biggest dividing line between the haves and have-nots in San Francisco: education. The struggling public school district is experiencing a leadership crisis and is expected to close some schools due to declining enrollment.

Lurie said his children attended private school.

“We made this decision,” Lurie said. “We have friends who have the means to send their children to private school and who have chosen public school. And I understand that people want to ask me about that, and I respect that.”

To make up for his privileged background and lack of political experience, Lurie said, he helped house tens of thousands of people through his nonprofit and led the effort behind Santa Clara's Super Bowl 50 in 2016.

He often points to 833 Bryant St. as his flagship affordable housing model, one that he says was built faster and cheaper than city-led projects and a framework he would like to adopt if elected. However, critics believe the project's successes are exaggerated.

“A door opened for me in my life,” Lurie said. “I've always brought as many people through these doors as possible, be it through Tipping Point, be it through [the] Super Bowl, whether [it be through] the construction of housing on Bryant Street on time and within budget [with] well paid, unionized. I will continue to do that as your mayor.”