San Francisco moderate Democrats spending millions in local elections, fearing another progressive takeover

Moderate Democrats in San Francisco are pushing back against progressive candidates, fearing local left-wing politicians could undo the work done over the past four years after a surge in the city's homelessness and crime, according to a report Friday.

Neighbors for a Better San Francisco raised $10 million to pour into local elections to stop progressives from being re-elected and knocking the city "off its more centrist course," according to Politico.  

The organization of political moderates in the city wants to defeat a "CEO tax" proposal that labor unions placed on the June primary ballot, according to Politico.

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The group worries that the proposed tax, intended to offset the federal funding cuts that affected the city’s budget, would inhibit economic recovery and worsen the city’s downtown office vacancy issue.

Neighbors for a Better San Francisco is pouring the most money to preserve a moderate-leaning majority on the Board of Supervisors as progressives try to regain control.

The group also hopes to sustain the moderate majority on the city’s school board after a recent teachers' strike and to engage in voter education.

San Francisco made headlines for a mass exodus from the liberal city, declining public school enrollment and skyrocketing housing prices. 

The city elected Mayor Daniel Lurie in 2024, defeating incumbent Democrat London Breed in a shift away from lenient policies on crime, drugs and homelessness that critics say contributed to the city’s decline.

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Neighbors for a Better San Francisco supports "public safety, serious solutions to homelessness, high-quality public education, fiscal responsibility, and good government for our city," according to its website.

The group's director, Jay Cheng, said it "is important that someone is holding the line."

"This is a wave that is coming to us. It’s coming westward," he said.

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"Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who leads City Hall’s centrist majority, said he fears a Democratic midterm election focused heavily on President Donald Trump could drown out local concerns that helped moderates gain power amid the city’s pandemic-era decline," Politico reported.

"It’s hard in a place like this for the center to hold," Mandelman said. "We have pragmatists and utopians."