Unusual allies form the first alliance of the SF mayoral race

Former San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell and Supervisor Ahsha Safaí shook up the hotly contested race for San Francisco mayor on Wednesday by forming the campaign's first electoral alliance.

Both Farrell and Safaí will spend the rest of the campaign asking their supporters to put them first and second in the city's ranked-choice, or runoff, voting system, which allows voters to place up to ten candidates on their ballots in the order of their preference. If no one reaches a majority on the first count, the lowest-ranking candidate is eliminated from the vote and their votes automatically go to that voter's second choice. This process continues until someone has 50% plus one vote.

While it may seem like an odd alliance – Farrell is a venture capitalist who represents the Tony Marina district and is at the top of the polls, while Safaí is a former union organizer who represents working-class southeastern neighborhoods and has fought to keep them in the top spot At the bottom in most polls – both candidates have been hinting at such a joint effort for months.

Both said they had similar priorities and worked well together on the board. Both supported a citywide project labor agreement the Board of Supervisors passed in 2019 that requires contractors bidding on public projects to work under various unions' collective bargaining agreements.

“Regardless of what he has done professionally for a while, he has shown that he is someone who collaborates with and supports many of the different initiatives that I am involved in,” Safaí said, noting that both men themselves Fathers raising children are children in the city.

“No one will win this race alone,” said Safaí. “That’s why we have a ranking choice strategy.”

Farrell said Wednesday that “this (alliance) is a no-brainer from my perspective.”

“Although Ahsha and I don't agree on everything, we share similar values ​​and a shared belief that San Francisco will be stronger without her [Mayor] “London Breed,” Farrell said.

Breed spokesman Joe Arellano responded: “Mark Farrell's campaign has reached the level of desperation with his surprise announcement in October that he had secured Ahsha's 1%. (Nonprofit executive) Daniel Lurie bombarding Farrell with his million-dollar attack ads every 15 minutes on television must have the intended effect.”

Their additional hope is to consolidate support among organized labor, whose various unions have splintered their support behind the five leading candidates in the race. Safaí has ​​received the lion's share of the city's labor support and Farrell received the support of the firefighters' union. Farrell and Safaí received a double endorsement from the 7,500-member San Francisco Construction Union. Board President Aaron Peskin is supported by unions representing teachers, nurses and health care workers, as well as the SEIU. Breed has received support from unions representing longshoremen, industrial engineers, communications workers and carpenters. Lurie is supported by the United Food and Commercial Workers and a union.

“San Francisco has always been a blue-collar city,” Farrell said Wednesday. “Joint mobilizations with our labor community, with Ahsha’s campaign, and ensuring we mobilize across the city of San Francisco, along with our labor support, will ensure that labor is represented at the ballot box in November.”

Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University, said the alliance is a result of Lurie's campaign, which has bombarded the city's voters with mailers, online and TV ads, some of which target Farrell, who appears in many Polls are just above him.

“This is in some ways a defensive move by Mark Farrell's campaign, but also one that could strengthen support in some communities, including among union voters,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel said he doesn't expect the move “to have too much of an impact considering Ahsha's support is so low, but if it does then it might hurt Aaron Peskin a little, just a little.”

McDaniel said that while Safaí “has no chance of winning this election, I think he is running for future office and that could help him maintain some credibility.”

Safaí replied: “I’m really focused on electing this mayor. My goal is to come out on top, but if I can't do that, then I want the other viable candidate who I think is the best fit for San Francisco to take the lead. That’s why I’m focused on winning this race, not other races.”

Tyler Law, Lurie's campaign adviser, dismissed the alliance as “nothing more than insiders protecting insiders as desperation sets in.” Protectors of the failed status quo are afraid of the change Daniel will bring to City Hall.”

Farrell and Safaí will attend a rally and union-led promotional event at 9 a.m. Saturday at Crocker-Amazon Park. They plan to appear together at several campaign events leading up to Election Day.

Larry Mazzola, president of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, said it is “definitely my hope” that the alliance will strengthen organized labor's clout in the race, even if they are split between two candidates who may not be natural candidates political allies appear.

“Even though they are technically on opposite ends of the spectrum, they have both proven during their time in office that they can do something for San Francisco and that they protect workers,” Mazzola said.

Building coalitions in ranked-choice voting has had a mixed track record for candidates, according to Fair Vote, a nonpartisan voting reform organization that tracks the system. In 24 races the organization has tracked in which rival candidates formed alliances, only nine races did a member of that team win.

About 20% of likely voters named Farrell as their first choice in a Chronicle poll in August, the same number as in February. Only 5% supported Safaí, down from 8% in the previous poll. Race topped the poll at 28%.

Ranking selection complicates the picture. When voters were asked who they would put second in their immediate runoff, Lurie was the most common second choice. Farrell received the second-most second-choice picks. Farrell is the most common second choice of Breed and Lurie voters.

The Chronicle poll found that Peskin was the most common second choice among voters who ranked Safaíi first, receiving 27% of those votes.

But Safaí avoided contact with Peskin, even though he may be more aligned ideologically with Peskin, because, as he said, “the decision I made had a lot to do with the people of whom I heard out there on the ground, people who. “I talked to people all over San Francisco every day and then just looked at the track record.”

Peskin strategist Jim Stearns did not believe the alliance would hurt his candidate. “If Ahsha goes public with an endorsement for Farrell, he will lose the few votes he currently has,” he said.

Reach Joe Garofoli: [email protected]; Twitter: @joegarofoli