Mayor Daniel Lurie today reversed his decision and weighed in on the only two contested supervisor races on the November ballot: He endorsed District 8 candidate Manny Yekutiel, the owner of his namesake cafe, and District 10 candidate Theo Ellington, a lobbyist and the director of the Ruth Williams Opera House. He initially said he would stay out of both races.
Both candidates are moderates, and would help the mayor retain a solid majority on the Board of Supervisors. Lurie’s endorsement could help both Yekutiel and Ellington significantly: The mayor is popular, and voters in June approved every candidate he endorsed and voted alongside the mayor on every ballot measure. A political action committee run by Lurie’s allies also spent significantly in the June races, and has the money to do so again before November.
The endorsement of Yekutiel is noteworthy: The District 8 candidate faces an allegation of sexual assault from political activist Brad Chapin.
Chapin says Yekutiel assaulted him at a house party in 2020 by squeezing his testicles to the point where it hurt, and trying to penetrate him with a finger.
Yekutiel has denied the allegations, and has thus far been relatively politically unscathed: Only three politicians have pulled their endorsements of him, and on August 26, Yekutiel secured the endorsement of the San Francisco Democratic Party at a contentious meeting.
Lurie addressed the allegation in July, when he said he had no plans to endorse in either District 8 or District 10, the only districts with competitive races this cycle.
“As mayor, I take all allegations of sexual assault incredibly seriously,” Lurie told the San Francisco Standard on July 2. “I don’t have all the information, but the [San Francisco Police Department] is doing their investigation, so that’s where I would leave it on that front.”
Yekutiel celebrated the mayor’s endorsement. “I’m incredibly proud to have the Mayor’s endorsement because I know what we can accomplish together,” he said. “We’ve spent years working side by side to make San Francisco better and now we have the chance to bring that partnership to City Hall.”
In 2022, Lurie and Yekutiel co-founded the Civic Joy Fund, a non-profit that gives grants to projects aimed at revitalizing San Francisco’s streets and runs block parties across the city, among other things.
In a statement, Lurie said that District 8, which includes the Castro, Noe Valley, and surrounding neighborhoods, needs a supervisor who is “committed to addressing our housing affordability crisis, and continuing our progress on public safety and the drug crisis.”
Yekutiel, he said, is “the only candidate who will help take us forward.”
Victories by Yekutiel and Ellington would increase the number of Lurie allies on the 11-member Board of Supervisors. There currently are five “moderate” supervisors who consistently vote for Lurie’s priorities, plus two (Bilal Mahmood and Myrna Melgar) who typically do.
But District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, who is part of the progressive coalition, is terming out this year. If he were to be replaced by Ellington, that would increase the board’s moderate majority.
Ellington has received a slew of endorsements from moderate political officials, including Sen. Scott Wiener, and thousands of dollars in donations from San Francisco tech executives aligned with the mayor. Ellington also won the endorsement of the San Francisco Democratic Party.
The news comes one week after Ellington received a historic $500,000 donation from Ripple executive Chris Larsen. In a sit-down interview with Larsen this week, before the tech executive knew of Lurie’s endorsement, Larsen said that Ellington was a “pragmatic problem solver” who was “cut from the same cloth as Lurie.”
Larsen said that, if elected, Ellington would likely work with the mayor on housing, “safe streets” and “economic opportunity” rather than “sabotage” his agenda.
“I’m deeply honored to have earned the Mayor’s endorsement,” said Theo Ellington, in a statement. “I’m confident that in partnership with Mayor Lurie, we can build the neighborhoods we deserve in District 10.”
Lurie also announced the following endorsements:
- Proposition A, which reforms city commissions: Yes
- Proposition B, creating a public bank: No
- Proposition C, which would direct funding to affordable housing: Yes
- Proposition D, increasing the number of signatures needed to place a measure on the ballot: Yes
- Proposition E, enabling the city administrator to reform the city’s contracting process: Yes
- Proposition F, increasing mayoral authority: Yes
- Proposition G, reopening the Great Highway to cars on weekdays: No endorsement
- Proposition H, increasing taxes to cover Muni’s deficit: Yes
- Proposition I, dedicating some of the city’s transfer tax to affordable housing: No
- Proposition J, a transfer tax to prevent foreclosures: Yes
“These are the candidates and propositions that will keep our city safe, make government more accountable, strengthen public education, and help ensure a broad-based economic recovery so everyone can continue to call this incredible city home,” Lurie said.
