San Francisco’s labor unions are spending handsomely to keep Connie Chan in her seat as District 1 supervisor and retain a progressive ally on the Board of Supervisors: As of Oct. 28, various unions have spent $801,279 to support Chan and attack her main rival, Marjan Philhour, helping to make the contest the most expensive supervisor’s race this year.
More than $2 million has been poured into the District 1 supervisor’s race, with nearly all of that going towards the two leading candidates, Chan and Philhour.
Chan faces a difficult re-election bid against Philhour, who is running for the third time in District 1 and lost to Chan by just 125 votes in 2020. Both have also fundraised hundreds of thousands of dollars each: $503,238 for Philhour and $422,830 for Chan.
The money spent on the 2024 Chan-Philhour race in District 1 has already blown past the total spent on the 2020 Chan-Philhour matchup, and there are still two more weeks to go.
In addition, an Asian-American group, Asian Americans for Representation, has spent another $90,913 on Chan.
“I'm not the money candidate in this race,” said Philhour. “Labor’s number one priority in D1 is keeping her in the supervisor seat. But the thing that will keep her in the supervisor seat is the people who live here, And if you're not serving them, you're in trouble.”
Bianca Polovina, president of IFPTE Local 21, one of the unions backing Chan, disagreed.
“Money that comes from working people and unions is fundamentally different from money that comes from real-estate developers and extremely wealthy people and organizations,” Polovina said.
And Philhour is backed by her own deep-pocketed allies: Families for a Vibrant SF, a PAC backed largely by tech money, spent $211,387 supporting her; Grow SF, backed by top donors including crypto founder and investor Chris Larsen, spent $18,705, according to campaign finance filings. Grow SF and TogetherSF also spent $31,198 and $2,500, respectively, opposing Chan.
Both candidates benefit from slate mailers
The Saving San Francisco Voter Guide, a slate mailer organization backed by TogetherSF, has received at least $550,000 in payments from the “Committee to Fix SF government, Yes on D, No on E” since July. It has sent out mailers supporting advocating for candidates and propositions.
One such mailer asked voters to vote “Yes on D, No on E” on one side but, on the other side, it attacked Chan and asked voters to vote for Philhour and Mark Farrell for mayor, and to vote no on Prop. K.
Another Saving San Francisco mailer, reading “Connie Chan and Daniel Lurie have failed us,” asked voters to support Farrell, Philhour and Brooke Jenkins, touting them as “champions for safe and clean streets.”
These slate mailers are not required to include their top funders; an asterisk next to a candidate’s name indicates that they put money towards the mailers. It is unclear how much of the payments from the Prop. D committee to Saving San Francisco Voter Guide were used on the mailers attacking Chan and supporting Philhour.
Chan also benefited from slate mailers. The Rose Pak Democratic Club Slate Mailer Organization, for example, has sent out mailers endorsing Chan, along with candidates in other races like Aaron Peskin (mayor), Jackie Fielder (District 9) and Chyanne Chen (District 11).
Labor doubles down on Chan
Labor has been focused on the District 1 and District 5 races — “priority races” for labor, according to Kim Tavaglione, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council. But labor-backed PACs are spending much more money defending Chan than Supervisor Dean Preston in District 5, indicating that labor foresees a more urgent battle for the incumbent Chan.
In District 5, labor spent just $10,306 in support of Preston, and $99,644 opposing Bilal Mahmood, his top challenger. Mahmood is backed by $19,113 from GrowSF, which also spent $300,318 against Preston.
Tavaglione attributed the difference in strategy to redistricting in 2022. “Dean’s district gained the Tenderloin,” said Tavaglione. “He was able to develop relationships more quickly there. Residents there weren’t necessarily hostile.”
Meanwhile, District 1 gained more wealthy areas north of Lake Street, including Sea Cliff and Presidio Terrace, which are populated by more conservative constituents. The District 1 seat has been held by a progressive since 2000; Supervisors Jake McGoldrick, Eric Mar and Sandra Fewer were all progressives. But redistricting could, this time, put Philhour over the line.
“It is a close race, and the last few elections have shown how close the margin is,” said Polovina.
“Marjan has a pretty good chance, as the electorate is so focused on public safety,” said Robin Pam, president of Westside Family Democratic Club, which endorsed Philhour. “She is clearly positioned around that.”
Asian representation
Chan, the only Chinese American supervisor presently on the board, also received more than $90,000 in support from Asian Americans for Representation committee. The committee also backed other Chinese American candidates in district races, including Sharon Lai in District 3 and Chyanne Chen in District 11, but not Philhour, who is Filipina and Iranian American, or District 11 hopeful Michael Lai, who is Chinese American.
"When we make decisions, [we are] trying to gauge a representation that already has a track record of helping the Asian community,” said Norman Yee, treasurer of the committee and former District 7 supervisor.
Still, money may not mean everything in the District 1 contest.
In 2020, during their last matchup, Philhour’s candidate-controlled committee spent $448,483, while Chan’s spent $374,090. SF Workforce Housing Alliance, a PAC sponsored by Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, spent another $120,743 against Chan.
Chan won that race, albeit barely: She got 125 more votes than Philhour, a 0.36 percent difference.
Chan wants to keep Great Highway open.
This is the number one issue in the Outer Richmond.
It would be entertaining to see a Mayor Peskin cajoling supervisor Philhour and/or Chandler to tap dance to his tune in the North Light Court on the regular.