Here’s the latest in our “Meet the Candidates” series for District 5, where we ask each candidate to answer one question per week leading up to the election, with answers capped at 100 words.
All the responses will ultimately be compiled onto a single page, where readers can peruse the potential supervisors’ stances on upwards of 40 topics before it’s time to vote in November.
Our latest question for the District 5 candidates: We have seen a lot of money potentially influencing this yearโs elections. Tell us about your campaign fundraising and endorsements.
This week, we got a new candidate, Autumn Looijen, a resident who kicked off the school board recalls of 2022. Her response is included below.
Currently, two committees have been formed supporting and opposing Dean Preston. “Dean Preston for Supervisor 2024” has raised at least $156,791 as of Feb. 6, including several donations from fellow politicians Aaron Peskin, Connie Chan, John Avalos, Jackie Fielder, Gordon Mar, Shamann Walton, Sandra Fewer. That committee is directly controlled by Preston and subject to $500 contribution limits.
The committee opposing Preston, “Coalition to Grow San Francisco โ GrowSF PAC opposing Preston for Supervisor 2024,” has raised $301,458. That committee is independent of any candidate and can take unlimited donations, but cannot coordinate with candidates directly.
GrowSF, while it has not officially made endorsements in the November election, supported Bilal Mahmood in his run for state assembly in 2022 and for San Francisco’s Democratic County Central Committee in this month’s election. The PAC’s major donors include outspoken CEO of Y Combinator Garry Tan, investor and former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, billionaire CEO of Ripple Chris Larsen โ some of the same donors that supported Mahmood earlier this month.
Separately, “Bilal Mahmood for Supervisor 2024” has raised $63,387 per its Feb. 17 campaign finance statement. That committee is controlled by Mahmood and subject to the $500 limits, too.
So, let’s see the candidates’ answers.
Bilal Mahmood
We are proud to not accept any corporate PAC, fossil-fuel or law-enforcement money on this campaign.
We have a wide coalition of donors across many sectors, ranging from government, nonprofits and the private sector to everyday people who are simply fed up with the lack of action on San Franciscoโs problems. Iโve earned trust from supporters to get results on housing, safety, and education.
I am incredibly grateful for the unity coalition we have built with a wide array of endorsements coming in, most notably from State Senator Scott Wiener, and our most recent DCCC Chair, Honey Mahogany.
Dean Preston
Iโm proud to have earned the endorsement of the SF Labor Council, Tenants Union, Community Tenants Association, Affordable Housing Alliance, Tenderloin Chinese Rights Association, Nurses, Health Care Workers, Teamsters, Teachers, Public Employees, Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, Bernie Sanders, and community leaders in every neighborhood across District 5.
Weโve been targeted by billionaire-funded PACs with unlimited money, but are holding our own, having raised more than $180,000 from grassroots donations, qualifying us for an additional $250,000 from public financing.
Our campaign is funded by the people, not corporate special interests. To support our campaign, visit www.dean2024.com.
Allen Jones
In June 2018, I had a ballot measure placed on the that special election. My measure (Prop. I) received 98,000 yes votes from San Francisco voters, with no advertisement and one donor.
I intend to trust the voters of District 5 to read what I have to offer and I will not raise funds. You can’t make it to Heaven by raising Hell on Earth. Therefore, I intend to raise awareness.
Autumn Looijen
I launched my Supervisor campaign last week, and I’m kicking off fundraising now.
I have a proven track record winning five ballot measures in SF, including landslide wins with the school board recalls and to bring algebra back. District 5 voters said yes to every one of them … and that’s the endorsement I’m most proud of.
Funding is important to get our message out, and even more important is a demonstrated ability to deliver practical solutions to our hard problems. That’s what district voters are looking for.
The order of candidates is rotated each week. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at eleni@missionlocal.com.
Read the rest of the District 5 questions here, and the entire “Meet the Candidates” series here. Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
The hazard orange elephant in the room remains: scary Garry โdie slowโ Tanโs thou$and$ of donations to his preferred candidates, Bilal Mahmood and Autumn Looijen, in hopes of buying the next D5 supervisor. To this day, neither Looijen or Mahmood have addressed the death threats (nor returned the donations). Cowardice? Avarice? Hubris? What is so difficult about criticizing a millionaire psycho who calls for the deaths of democratically elected officeholders and their loved ones? Odd that theyโd rather criticize Preston. Both Mahmood and Looijen are recent arrivals to D5 (Looijen moved to the lower Haight in 2022, and Mahmood moved to the recently gerrymandered Tenderloin at about the same time after he lost to Matt Haney); thatโs why they both are called carpet baggers. Sadly neither candidate Mahmood or Looijen offer any specific details about what they would do differently to tackle the Cityโs (and D5โs) problems like housing people, helping our public schools, paying our teachers, funding MUNI, keeping the Fillmore Safeway, protecting pedestrians and solving auto and garage break ins. Like 5th graders, they criticize, bash and belittle the current D5 supervisor. Thatโs it. Even worse: Looijen proudly touts spearheading the SFUSD Board recall as a qualification, yet her kids go to private school. Inciting angry torch and pitch fork mobs during a global pandemic is as easy as farting in the wind. Looijen didnโt know that the Tenderloin was recently gerrymandered into D5 by London Breedโs appointed Task Farce. These two clueless candidates have lots to learn about our local D5 district and our hardworking communities. Bashing the current supervisor is lame. Voters expect more.
I remember how until just recently Bilal Mahmood was a neuroscientist. It was shocking to find out that he stopped being one the moment some actual neuroscientists pointed out (to him) that he was lying. It takes a lot of integrity to change a major part of your lived experience after you realized your delusions of grandeur tricked you.
Why am I surprised that D5 candidates are all literal jokes with the exception of the incumbent?
It is clear that the opposition of Preston is disadvantaged by the strong tenant protection platform and action that Preston delivers.
Please don’t waste your vote on any of these candidates that are running against Preston. Either vote for Preston or abstain please. I for one am so disheartened that no serious candidates have come forward as I’m not a huge Preston fan. I actually voted for someone else last election as I did not want Preston to stay. However, Dean Preston is the best option out of the available choices.
Alsoโฆโฆ.not a word from candidate Mahmood about the 2 (out of 3) Ethics complaints to do with his co mingling of campaign funds from his 2 races (one for DCCC and for D5 Supervisor). He broke campaign finance law.
I wish I still lived in District 5 so I could vote for anyone but Autumn.
Pretty fair to say that the only reason why a clueless outsider from Los Altos crawled into this race is to try to syphon off votes from Dean Preston. Looijen and Mahmoodโs posts and talking points are all based on bashing Preston; they take turns doing so. But what exactly is their plan for D5 and city wide? They wonโt say.