Supervisor Aaron Peskin entered the race for San Francisco mayor in April hoping to be the standard bearer for progressive voters seeking a clear contrast to moderate incumbent London Breed.
Four months later, Peskin does not yet have nearly enough support to unseat Breed, though his campaign insists he is proceeding on a viable path to victory. A new poll commissioned by the Chronicle found he was the No. 1 choice of just 12% of likely voters, coming in fourth behind Breed, former interim mayor Mark Farrell and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie.
While 18% of likely voters remained undecided, the poll found Peskin might have a hard time growing his support enough to win the election. Just 8% of respondents were inclined to make Peskin their second choice and 23% said they would rank him last among the five major contenders.
One of Peskin’s main difficulties in the race is that he is widely known in San Francisco, for better and worse, since he was first elected to the Board of Supervisors more than two decades ago.
His well-documented resistance to unfettered market-rate housing construction has made him a villain of sorts to those who champion a dramatic expansion of residential development at all income levels. Peskin has defended his housing record by pointing to tens of thousands of units he’s approved in office, though he has often blocked specific projects in the name of historic preservation. And while he views his mastery of local government processes as a strength, to his most vehement critics, he has long been a symbol of dysfunction at City Hall.
Peskin made headlines in 2021 for personal reasons when he entered treatment for alcohol use after other officials complained that he appeared visibly intoxicated in public and private meetings and had bullied colleagues and lower-level city employees. He is now running partly on his recovery, arguing in a campaign video that “San Francisco needs recovery too.”
The large number of voters who said in the Chronicle poll that they’d rank Peskin last suggests his reputation could be an obstacle for him. But he was the last of the five main candidates to jump in the race, so he’s had the least time to raise money and get his message out. His campaign has been organizing volunteers to spread the word about his candidacy, and in the months ahead, he is expected to benefit from a political action committee being organized by some of his progressive allies.
