Welcome back to our “Meet the Candidates” series, where District 6 supervisor candidates respond to a question in 100 words or fewer. Answers are published every Tuesday.
District 6 includes SoMa, Mission Bay, Treasure Island and Yerba Buena. Its current supervisor, Matt Dorsey, was appointed by Mayor London Breed on May 9, 2022. He is up for re-election this November against one challenger, Alex Behrend.
Mission Local previously excluded Behrend from this series because he did not meet our candidate-coverage guidelines. He has since qualified for Meet the Candidates coverage after receiving endorsements from former District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston and Juanita More, an activist and drag queen.
San Francisco voters have spent more than a century tinkering with who has power at City Hall. The city’s 1898 charter established a “strong mayor” system, giving the mayor veto power over legislation and authority to appoint and remove commissioners. A 1932 charter shifted substantial authority to a chief administrative officer, appointed by the mayor, who oversaw most departments. Under this charter, the mayor appointed many commissioners, but had limited power to remove them.
Then, in 1995, voters approved a new charter — currently in effect — that shifted some of that authority back to the mayor. Under the current charter, the Board of Supervisors can check the mayor through its control of legislation and the budget, confirmation of some mayoral appointments and its power to override vetoes.
But the tug-of-war over executive power did not end there. Since the current charter took effect in 1996, voters have approved 153 amendments to it, continuing to alter how City Hall is organized. In 2024, San Francisco voters rejected Proposition D, a charter amendment that would have expanded the mayor’s authority while dramatically reducing the number of city commissions, which oversee departments, set policy and, in some cases, provide a check on mayoral control. That campaign raised more than $9 million, but the measure failed.
Two years later, Mayor Daniel Lurie is pursuing another package of charter amendments that could significantly reshape how City Hall works.
One of those proposed amendments is Proposition F. It would give the mayor sole authority to hire and fire certain department heads, greater power to reorganize city departments and more control over removing commissioners. Lurie and his allies argue that San Francisco’s fragmented structure makes it difficult to know who is responsible when city services fall short, and that a mayor who is held accountable by voters should have greater authority to manage the government. The Board of Supervisors, however, is also directly elected by voters.
Opponents argue that those changes would concentrate too much power in the mayor’s office and weaken independent oversight of departments. The fight has also become one of the most expensive of this election: Lurie’s campaign for Propositions D, E and F has raised roughly $13 million, much of it from wealthy donors. If all three measures pass, they would amount to some of the most significant changes to San Francisco’s system of government since the city charter was rewritten.
So, this week, we asked the District 6 candidates: Should San Francisco give the mayor more authority over city departments and commissions?
Mission Local color codes the answers to yes/no questions. A blue background means the candidate answered yes, an orange background means no and a yellow background means that the candidate answered ambiguously.
Alex Behrend
- Job: No current job, formerly a voter organizer for Dean Preston’s 2024 campaign, a Safeway checker and a housekeeper at the San Francisco Zen Center
- Age: 54
- Residency: Renter living in District 6 since April 2026, and in San Francisco since 2011, with a previous stint in 1990-91 while attending the University of San Francisco
- Transportation: Public transit, walking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego
- Languages: English
- Website: Alex for All
With Democracy under attack from Donald Trump & billionaires in our backyard trying to buy elections, San Francisco cannot put more power into the hands of one person.
I agree with Willie Brown – the Mayor has enough power.
Mayor Lurie also shows no restraint using his inheritance-funded propaganda machine to push his corporation coddling agenda. (And Matt Dorsey wants to cede more authority to him?)
Concentrating power an Executive – President or Mayor – never works!
Together, let’s:
1. Defeat the Mayoral Power Grab (Prop D) [Proposition F, not Proposition D, is the measure that would expand the mayor’s authority over city departments and commissions.]
2. Tax Billionaire Wealth (Prop 40)
3. Stop the takeover of San Francisco by the obscenely rich
Endorsed by: Former Supervisor Dean Preston, Juanita More, Arab Resource and Organizing Center Action
Matt Dorsey
- Job: Current District 6 Supervisor
- Age: 61
- Residency: Renter, living in District 6 since 2008, has lived in San Francisco since 1990 (except for four years in Washington, D.C.).
- Transportation: Public transit, walking, biking
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from Emerson College
- Languages: English
- Website: Reelect Matt Dorsey 2026
Yes. Ending brazen drug markets, rampant public drug use, and addiction-driven lawlessness requires cooperation among our public health, supportive housing, police and sheriffs’ departments. And the job of eliminating silos to ensure departments work together is the mayor’s.
San Francisco has had a strong-mayor system for generations, yet too many efforts to “rein in” executive authority have instead undermined good government. We need to give our elected leaders — who are accountable to voters — the authority, flexibility, and resources to deliver.
That’s why I support Proposition F and other good-government Charter reforms, including Props A, D and E, on November 3.
Endorsed by: Mayor Daniel Lurie, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, Senator Scott Wiener … read more here.
Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let us know at sarah@missionlocal.com // io@missionlocal.com.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.
