Mission Local is publishing a daily campaign dispatch for each of the major contenders in the mayor’s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: Mark Farrell. Read earlier dispatches here.
Mayoral contender Mark Farrell appeared to have good reason to feel assured on Tuesday morning, walking in the Sunset District. The sun was shining, he was in good company — alongside two staffers and several campaign volunteers — and windows along the corridor were adorned with posters of his visage.
“Oh, yeah, I sent my team out yesterday,” said Farrell’s campaign field director, Sophie Marie, when asked why the candidate was so popular along Irving Street. “It’s encouragement for your candidate, essentially.”
At 10 a.m., Farrell and his team set out for an hour and a half of canvassing along Irving between 19th and 24th avenues, mostly stopping by at stores whose support had been vetted the day before.
From door to door, Farrell and his team listened to concerns from local merchants: The owner of a produce market who has recently had two catalytic converters stolen from in front of his own store; a deli owner who had his window smashed about two months ago; and a restaurant owner who has grown tired of seeing thieves leave from the nearby Walgreens with their hands full.
“I don’t think you’re getting all of this,” Farrell said to this reporter. Every single person talks about public safety, he emphasized. “I wish this was a different dialogue.”
Along the way, Farrell’s staff chimed in and translated from Cantonese and occasionally, Mandarin. He nodded in acknowledgement, rarely adding more than, “Thank you for sharing that. That’s why I’m running.”
At Mini Potstickers, on Irving Street near 22nd Avenue, three aunties ran to the front door of the restaurant to get a photo with Farrell, recognizing him from a poster.
He has a “friendly face,” said the restaurant’s owner, Lily. “He looks like a good person.”
Lily said that Mayor London Breed had also passed by and given her a poster, but she had one of her workers take it down. She said she is not satisfied with the current leadership in City Hall. “Hopefully, he [Farrell] will be mayor,” she said.
The Sunset is an important voter base for Farrell’s campaign, with historically more conservative constituents.
While Farrell may be boosting his name (and face) recognition along the corridor, winning over some merchants remains a hurdle.
“There’s a certain level of politeness that merchants have in the city,” said David Ho, a political consultant who also runs a cannabis store on Irving Street. When a merchant puts up a poster, that doesn’t mean they support that candidate, he added.
In fact, several businesses had posters for multiple mayoral contenders hanging right alongside one another, for Farrell, Breed and Daniel Lurie.
Tina Zeng, the cashier at Irving Seafood Market, spoke to Farrell’s team about her concerns on public safety, but said they did not give her specifics on how he might address them. With or without her endorsement, she was asked whether she would put up a sign.
“If I don’t put up the sign, they will just keep asking me,” said Zeng. “I don’t really care. Let them be.”
Additional reporting and translation by Yujie Zhou.
