Darcel Jackson, the formerly homeless app maker who entered the race for District Nine supervisor in March, bowed out on Tuesday citing “financial restraints” ahead of a $500 filing deadline today.
“I had to pay them $500 by 5 o’clock today and I don’t have it,” Jackson said. “If I had more time I could get it.”
The Department of Elections requires either 1,000 signatures or $500 on May 31, and Jackson said he only got “a handful” of signatures. “If I had known I had been in this situation I’d have been more aggressive about,” he said.
Jackson entered the race in March pledging to focus on homelessness and housing and said he would only take donations of $10 or less — the limit is $500 per individual — to steer his campaign away from moneyed interests.
It may have torpedoed it instead, though Jackson placed the blame on an unfinished website for donations, which he said would have raised him the money if it had been completed last month. He also said the money he did raise went straight to flyering and other campaign literature.
Asked what candidate he would support out of the remaining five, Jackson said Edwin Lindo — one of the Frisco Five hunger strikers and an education consultant — is his choice.
“I like Edwin,” he said. “Edwin I’ve met and I’ve talked with him.”
Jackson spent eight months in different homeless shelters city-wide after the 2008 recession and an industrial accident left him without ready work. Once out of the system, he worked to install wifi in homeless shelters and worked on an app to connect the homeless to city services — work he intends to continue.
“I’m developing two apps now that’ll help homeless people, I’m working on a shelter committee,” he said. “Maybe one of my opponents will have a job for me.”
Still, he pledged to gear up for the next supervisorial race in 2020, when the District Nine seat will again be up for grabs.
“You will see me for years from now,” he said. “So whoever wins had better do a good job, or they’ll have me.”