Aaron Peskin could be London Breed’s biggest reelection threat

San Francisco residents have been clear in their frustration with current Democratic Mayor London Breed. She’s been blamed for the city not bouncing back as quickly from the pandemic, along with persistent problems with crime, retail theft, homelessness, and drugs. 

Breed is seeking a second term in November, but her chances of winning might have just gotten a little tougher.

Two of her closest opponents, Daniel Lurie, the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, and former interim Mayor Mark Farrell, a venture capitalist, have blasted Breed for weeks for a hollowed-out downtown and deteriorating conditions on the streets. While Laurie and Farrell are considered centrists by San Francisco standards, Breed’s newest opponent, Aaron Peskin, is not. 

“The politics of today are marked by blame and not taking responsibility,” he recently said in an interview. “The buck stops with the mayor, and it’s time to inject a mature, collaborative discourse that’s befitting of San Francisco.”

Even though the 59-year-old challenger agrees with other candidates that the city’s Police Department needs more officers, he is advocating new recruits from local colleges. He also agrees that anyone peddling fentanyl, the street-cheap but highly addictive opioid, should be arrested and thrown in jail. But that’s where his similarities with the other candidates end. 

Peskin filed his paperwork on Friday and will hold a campaign kickoff event Saturday in Chinatown. He is well known in San Francisco circles as a proud liberal and is betting he can get enough liberals concerned with the city’s recent shift to the center to coalesce around him and take Breed down. 

“I’ve been in recovery for three years and know how to help the city recover,” he said. “I have very real plans to address homelessness, the fentanyl crisis, and affordable housing needs.” 

Peskin believes police officers should not crack down on public drug use and has called Breed out for not doing enough to expand treatment options for addicts. He’s also strictly opposed to a ballot measure Breed backed in the March primary that requires welfare recipients to undergo drug screenings or forfeit assistance given to them. 

Breed and Peskin have also gone rounds in the past over their vision for San Francisco’s future. 

Their top disagreement is on how to address housing issues. 

Breed favors building taller, denser housing for all income levels in the city and has pledged to meet a target set by the state of having 82,000 new units built by 2031. Peskin has called the goal unrealistic and has pushed back on meeting any state goals, arguing that San Francisco should do what’s right for the city and not kowtow to the state. 

“I firmly believe we can grow San Francisco without ruining San Francisco,” he said.

Last month, he was behind a push to limit dense housing construction near his home in Telegraph Hill, a picturesque upscale enclave where the median home value is $1.7 million and rent is $2,568, more than twice the national average. Breed vetoed Peskin’s proposal, but then he rallied and got enough votes to override her veto, marking the first time that has happened during Breed’s administration. 

Peskin is also a familiar face to San Francisco voters. 

He is president of the Board of Supervisors and is currently serving his fifth nonconsecutive term. He was instrumental in passing the city’s first inclusionary housing law, which required private developers to create affordable housing. He’s also one of the board’s leading policymakers on environmental sustainability, waterfront protections, and conservation. 

Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University, told CBS News that Peskin may seem more attractive to liberal voters looking for a change. 

“Because there’s sort of a crowded field with some similar messages, I think he’s going to be able to stand alone with a message that resonated with his core of voters,” McDaniel said.  “I also think, though, that he’s a progressive that is not necessarily a turn off to other voters. He’s somebody who has been around for a long time, over 20 years.”

Alex Clemens, a communications consultant and lobbyist, added that Peskin is “one of the longest tenured members of the San Francisco political class in history.”

“He served two terms on the Board of Supervisors, first being elected at age 35, 36,” he said. “And then he departed because we have a two-term, two consecutive term limit. That’s an important thing to remember.”

It was a seven-year break, but then a twist of fate brought a special election and two more full terms, marking 17 years of service, Clemens added. 

Not everyone is sold, with arguably the most vitriol coming from Breed’s camp.

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Despite his nearly two decades of service, Breed’s spokesman, Joe Arellano, told the New York Times that Peskin’s views on housing would set San Francisco back. 

He added, “Aaron Peskin is synonymous with intimidation, obstruction, and dysfunction.”